Undergraduate Grants

The Whitaker International Undergraduate Scholarship Program provides funding:

  • To increase the number of undergraduates in BME who go abroad
  • To provide the opportunity for students to see BME from an international perspective early in their educations
  • To develop students to become future leaders in BME

Eligibility
Undergraduate grantees must meet the basic eligibility requirements and must

  • Be currently enrolled as a second, third or senior year undergraduate Biomedical or Bioengineering student from a U.S. institution at the time of the scholarship, with at least one semester remaining at their home institution upon completion of the award.
  • Have the consent of the home institution to participate in the selected study abroad program.
  • Demonstrate a need for financial support to participate in a study abroad program.  Note: applicants do not need to be receiving finanicial aid to be eligible; however, any funding received toward study abroad program costs any amount of financial aid received towards the program, must be reported.

Host Country Affiliation
Grantees may carry out their study abroad programs in any country outside of the U.S., except Canada.  It is the aim of the program to include grantees from all geographic areas of the United States for studies in diverse regions of the world.

Applicants can

  • take BME coursework,
  • intern,
  • conduct research, or
  • direct enroll at an international institution that offers outstanding academic training in biomedical engineering.  It is the applicant’s responsibility to select the host institution or study abroad program in consultation with their home adviser.

Award Timing and Benefits
Grants are for a one academic term or an academic year.  No summer grants are available.  Benefits include:

  • Up to a $7,500 scholarship for one semester/academic term
  • Up to a $10,000 scholarship for the academic year

Application Procedures
There are two Undergraduate Application cycles:  one for the Fall/Academic Year and one for the Spring term. All applicants should review the detailed instructions on application procedure before beginning the online application.

For the Spring term, applications must be completed and submitted electronically by the second Monday in October.  For the Fall/Academic year cycle, applications must be completed and submitted electronically by Friday, March 15, 2013.

The online application will generate a PDF document automatically, which you will be able to preview. To see what your auto-generated document will look like click to see a sample PDF.  Note: you will need Adobe Reader or a similar program to view PDF documents.

Supplemental Forms
The below forms are required components of a complete application, and must be submitted online.

  • Essay on why you wish to participate in your chosen study abroad program (two pages)
  • One Reference
  • Cost of Study Abroad Program – completed by Study Abroad Advisor
  • Amount of Financial Aid received towards program – completed by Study Abroad Adviser
  • Study Abroad Advisor approval of the Study Abroad Program
  • One set of Official Transcripts
  • A letter of acceptance from the approved Study Abroad Program  must be submitted in hard copy to IIE at the below address,  if awarded the scholarship

Whitaker International Program
Institute of International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017