Through a $1 million investment in graduate student fellowships, PhD students in the College of Engineering and across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will have an opportunity to work on collaborative, transdisciplinary teams to co-create the vision and early successes of the Engineering Moonshots.
Ambitious in approach and scale, the Engineering Moonshots center the College of Engineering’s research around six bold challenges that require partnerships beyond engineering to deliver transformative impact. “Our students should have the opportunity not only to participate in ambitious research, but to help shape its direction,” says Devesh Ranjan, Grainger Dean of the College of Engineering. “By funding graduate student fellows at the early stage of our Engineering Moonshots, we’re investing in the people who will help define the future of engineering research and its impact on society.”
Across two years, the funding will support 15 to 18 PhD students as Moonshots Fellows, distributed across different moonshots, for nine months each. “Students can be part of a highly visionary, innovative, resourced team that is primed to make an impact,” says Ranjana Mehta, interim director of the college’s Grainger Institute for Engineering who’s overseeing the moonshots. “This is a unique point in time where we are building what the future of research looks like. To be part of this momentum is special and we would love for passionate, motivated students to co-create this vision.”
For students, she says, it’s a significant career opportunity—to align their current research with an Engineering Moonshot or to explore a passion area in parallel with their dissertator work. Likewise, faculty advisors whose students may apply to be Moonshots Fellows can engage in meaningful conversations that help shape their students’ development.
And that’s an important point, says Mehta. “When we think about creating initiatives for research, we often tend to think of students as the ‘doers,'” she says. “Here, it’s not just the faculty who are creating the vision. We are asking the next generation co-create the vision. The Moonshots Fellows are an investment in the future scientific workforce—in giving our students a holistic experience and preparing them for making significant societal impact here and when they graduate. That’s really unique.”
Beginning in fall 2026 and running through spring 2027, moonshots co-captains will share moonshot-specific calls for fellows applications.