Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) students Fiona Clarke ’23 and Aditya Sivakumar ’24 have been named University Innovation Fellows by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. Clarke, a business and management and design, innovation, and society dual major, and Sivakumar, an economics major, are two of 255 students selected for the program from 15 countries and 66 higher education institutions.

The program, which has trained more than 2,600 students since its creation, helps students lead change at their educational institutions. After participating in a six-week online training, the fellows set out to help their peers gain the skillset and perspective needed to address the challenges facing the world today. At their institutions, they make impacts such as creating innovation spaces, starting entrepreneurship organizations, facilitating workshops, and more. “Our training taught us how to navigate student concerns and transform them into meaningful solutions that we have begun to test and develop,” said Clarke.

Clarke and Sivakumar are being sponsored by the Paul J. ’69 and Kathleen M. Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at Rensselaer. “We are proud to sponsor Rensselaer students who become changemakers and lead change in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem on our campus,” said Kelly Reardon-Sleicher, associate program director at the Severino Center.

The two students are focusing their efforts on increasing the visibility of student projects, building awareness for on-campus resources, promoting the networking opportunities available to Rensselaer students, and creating a resource for project leaders to connect with student collaborators. “We’re proud to represent RPI’s community of student innovators and advance their cause on campus with meaningful, structural change,” said Sivakumar. “We hope students interested in our mission connect with us via email.”