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About the Summer Entrepreneurial Fellowship

The Summer Undergraduate Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program provides undergraduate students with an applied learning opportunity to further develop an entrepreneurial project. For example, participants may focus on area of game development, social entrepreneurship, economic development, or advancing a startup.

CIED Summer Fellows, 2022
CIED 2022 Summer Fellows, right-to-left, CIED Director Chuck Cornell, Entrepreneur in Residence Ted Sharon, Aidan Heaney, Andrew Bausher, Jay Byron, Kristen Wielgasz, and CIED Project Coordinator Lauri Gawronski.

The goal of the program is to foster entrepreneurial growth in the community as well as attract talent to the area. Participants in the Fellowship program will assist in promoting the CIED on campus with fellow students. This initiative also encourages entities that establish and mature at the CIED to remain in the community after “graduation” with a commitment to on-going involvement as potential mentors, investors, student employers, speakers, and workshop providers.

The CIED will provide a stipend of $1200 for the students participating in the 6-week fellowship. Students are responsible for their own housing.  

Students participating in the program will have access to all CIED services including conference space and the Innovation Design Studio. The Studio includes high performance computers, specialized software, peripherals, and recording equipment for innovative cross-disciplinary collaborations and development.


Application Contact Information:

Please fill out the application below.

If you have any questions contact Lauri Gawronski, CIED Project Coordinator, at gawronsl@fredonia.edu.

Fellowship Application

Deadline for Application: May 16, 2025 @ 3:30pm


Entrepreneurial Fellowship Agreement:

The CIED’s Summer Undergraduate Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program provides an opportunity to develop an entrepreneurial project.  Participants will focus on area of game development, social entrepreneurship, economic development, expanding programming, or advancing a startup.  This program leverages the CIED’s  Innovation Design Studio (IDS).  The IDS was inspired by a groundswell of student interest in video game development, virtual reality, and other forms of interactive media that use and fuse the visual arts, animation, video recording, sound recording, writing, and coding. The studio includes high-performance computers, specialized software, peripherals, and recording equipment for innovative cross-disciplinary collaborations and development.

Requirements/Terms:

The following is required of the fellows:

  • Identification of a project or final outcome (deliverable).
  • Establishment of goals and milestones – weekly.
  • Participation in weekly meeting with the CIED Director and others to review goals and milestones.
  • Interaction with Entrepreneur(s) in Residence (EIRs).
  • A final presentation/report out of the project.
  • Continuous input on the IDS and Summer Fellowship Program. 
  • Participation in CIED Events/programs.
  • Utilization of LivePlan software.

In addition:

  • Each fellow will receive a stipend of $1200, in weekly installments.
  • The final stipend installment will be held pending final presentation/report.  
  • Entrepreneur(s) in Residence (EIRs) will be available to assist and advise fellows.
  • Fellows will have access to the Innovation Design Studio and meeting space in the CIED.
     

Center for Innovation & Economic Development (CIED)

  • 214 Central Avenue State University of New York at Fredonia Dunkirk, NY 14048

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