The engineering community across the country is responding to a call from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to help our nation collectively address the COVID-19 crisis.

Illinois Tech’s Engineering Themes Program (originally inspired by the NAE Grand Challenges) is characterized by mentoring students to explore and offer creative engineering solutions to contemporary problems of high significance and global impact.

The current COVID-19 crisis calls for engineers’ technical expertise and critical thinking to contribute to the finding of effective and timely solutions to manage, fight, and end the pandemic.

The Armour College of Engineering would like to do two things:

1.) Call for student/faculty teams that would like to explore an idea, procedure, design, device, etc., to contribute to the managing of the COVID-19 crisis in various areas and levels (i.e. mitigating the spread of the virus, diagnosis, patient care, supporting/protecting health care providers, etc.). The engineering college will provide teams with a stipend to cover materials and tools required to execute the proposed ideas. To register your team and apply for project funding, SUBMIT ARMOUR PROPOSAL.

There is no deadline for submitting proposals.

This is a “just in time” initiative in which projects/proposals will be received and evaluated as ideas are generated

This call for proposals will stay open until May 30, 2020.

If you have questions, contact engineering@iit.edu.

2.) Alert you of an opportunity to join fellow engineers across the world to together brainstorm and innovate with the one common focus of fighting the pandemic.

A platform has been created involving alumni of the NAE Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) program and the global Grand Challenges Scholars Program communities to share ideas and collectively brainstorm innovative engineering solutions to the COVID-19 crisis.

To participate in this crowdsourcing and join the conversation, CLICK HERE.

Leading the Grand Challenges Scholars Program Community in this effort is Yannis C. Yortsos, co-founder, Grand Challenges Scholars Program and dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. For more details on this global effort mobilizing the GCSP Network, CLICK HERE.