Admissions
iFoundry, the Illinois Foundation for Innovation in Engineering Education, was launched in Fall 2008, for the purpose of creating curricular innovation, deepening student engagement, and expanding the breadth of students’ professional skill development in the College of Engineering. Supported by campus and college leadership, this curriculum incubator brings together faculty, staff, and students dedicated to educating undergraduates who can meet the technological and societal challenges of the 21st century with the highest degree of intelligence, creativity, and leadership. For students who desire to enhance the professional specialization which is Illinois’s hallmark, iFoundry presents unique undergraduate opportunities.
iFoundry students, invited as entering freshmen to join the iFoundry Class of 2013, will be offered special opportunities, courses, and experiences that will continue through their college years. From the outset of their time at Illinois, iFoundry seeks to enhance its participants’ critical thinking skills and deepen their engagement with the joys of engineering. A student in iFoundry remains enrolled in his or home curriculum (Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Etc.) and earns the corresponding degree. In addition, iFoundry students take a special first-year orientation course, participate in team activities with other iFoundry students, and have priority access to newly-developed courses. Peer-to-peer learning and design-oriented projects will be key components of the first-year experience. As a pilot program, cultivating new initiatives and reform, iFoundry launches with a small class of fifty students for 2013. As this initiative grows in coming years, it is expected that we can welcome growing numbers of students into each entering class.
