University of Utah

The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute - a top-10 ranked division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah - welcomed the second group of Lassonde Founders for the 2021-22 academic year. Thirty-eight students, including some students returning to the program for the second year, were admitted into the new residential entrepreneur program for undergraduate students. They moved into Lassonde Studios in August for the 2021-22 academic year.

The University of Utah congratulates more than 8,700 students who were named to the Spring 2021 Dean's List.

Eleven University of Utah graduate students were awarded the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) for 2021, the second-largest U cohort to date. The prestigious fellowship supports outstanding doctoral and research-based master's students doing research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. A total of 16 fellowship winners received their baccalaureate degrees here at the U, the largest group of winners ever who trained at the U as undergraduates.

The University of Utah congratulates more than 9,700 students who were named to the Fall 2020 Dean's List.

The Honors College at the University of Utah welcomes 2,321 students for the Fall 2020 semester.

Despite nationwide concerns over declining enrollment for institutions of higher education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Utah saw its largest total enrollment in its 170-year history for the Fall 2020 Semester. It also welcomed its largest, most diverse freshman class.

The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute-a top-10 ranked division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah-welcomed the inaugural group of Lassonde Founders for the 2020-21 academic year. Thirty-one students and two student directors were admitted into the new residential entrepreneur program for undergraduate students. They moved into Lassonde Studios in August for the Fall 2020 semester.

Well-being Elevated, a project aimed at boosting mental health well-being, will join four other teams selected by the Alliance for the American Dream to participate in the final pitch competition in September.Well-being Elevated addresses the unmet need for mental health services, especially among college students, that can lead to emotional suffering, lost earnings and problems such as homelessness, suicide and mental illness.

The Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business welcomed the second class of founders in the new Master of Business Creation (MBC) program this fall semester for the 2020-21 academic year. The program is offered in partnership with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.

A new Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU) presidency has been sworn in for the 2020-21 academic year.

Seven students from the College of Fine Arts were recently selected as Spring 2020 scholars in the University of Utah's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). UROP gives undergraduate students and faculty mentors the opportunity to work together on research or creative projects. The program provides a stipend and educational programming for students who assist with a faculty member's research or creative project or who carry out a project of their own under the supervision of a faculty member. Students may apply for UROP any semester and may be eligible for a one-semester renewal. UROP awardees are hired as temporary, part-time UROP Participants by the Office of Undergraduate Research and are paid $1,200 for 120 hours of research or creative work during the semester.

Team of four, including two University of Utah students plan to launch app that allows home and business owners to rent out their parking spots. Company leaders want to change the way people think about parking and be the most popular parking app in Salt Lake city and beyond.

In March 2019, U student Andrew Pignanelli founded Decheque-a company that matches investors with hedge funds in hoppes of increasing access to the private investment industry. Decheque uses an algorithm to match investors with funds. They then give each pair a compatibility score, to better facilitate the best connections. "We're essentially building a dating app," Pignanelli said. "When signing up you're asked all of these questions. Things like risk tolerance, investment focus, financial goals. And our program takes all of these and shows you exactly what you want." Decheque has the goal of creating more access to the private investment industry. "So many people want to invest in hedge funds but they don't get contacted," Pignanelli said. "And so many funds want to talk with investors but they don't have the means. We're going to change that."

A group of University of Utah students make up the team at Little Wanderers Studios-an indie game company that celebrates diversity of thought through the creation of fun and entertaining experiences that promote awareness and critical outlooks on the world. Little Wanderers Studios is currently working on the demo of their first game called "Wandrian," which translates to "wanderer" in old English. The goal of the game is a world that people can be fully immersed in and can be representative of any player. They plan to release a portion of the game in January 2020 to give people a little taste of what their world is going to look like. They plan to release on PC, Steam, Epic Game store, and maybe Switch.

This spring the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) and the J. Willard Marriott Library launched the first in a three-year round of awards for the University's faculty, staff and students: the Fellowship in Collections Engagement, or FICE. Five projects have been selected that promise to foster innovative, interdisciplinary, collections-based scholarship and creativity while highlighting the strengths of the UMFA's and Marriott Library's collections. The awards are part of a joint project, "Landscape, Land Art, and the American West," meant to stimulate research, pedagogy and engagement with the collections and resources of the Museum and the Library. The project is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and matching funds from the U.

At the end of March, four University of Utah graduate students spent three days in Washington D.C. for the Catalyzing Advocacy for Science and Engineering (CASE) workshop hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). At a time when the value of education and scientific research is increasingly being questioned by federal lawmakers, encouraging a new generation of policy-makers in academia is vital.

Two University of Utah engineering graduate students and their teammates created a robot called Bloodsport that fights other robots in the TV show "BattleBots." Bloodsport has already fought two battles, and its third will air on the Discovery Channel on Friday, Aug. 30, at 8 p.m.

Recent University of Utah graduate Alisa Cloward was chosen as the student speaker at the institution's 150th general commencement ceremony. She came to Utah after living in Japan for 17 years with her parents and 11 siblings. After working multiple jobs on top of a full-time class load, she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration as part of the Miller Enrichment Scholarship program and will go on to a position with Microsoft in Washington. Cloward was among 8,465 U students to celebrate graduation as part of the Class of 2019. The graduates ranged in age from 18 to 72, and collectively earned 9,126 degrees.

Six University of Utah students have received highly competitive Fulbright Student Program grants from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board for the 2019-20 academic year.