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INSPIRE

Integrated Networking, Scholarship, and Peer Interaction for First-year Engineers

As an INSPIRE Scholar, you’ll start your UCSB career with a junior- or senior-year peer mentor and a peer group of other first-year students in your major. Your peer mentor will help you navigate your first year at UCSB and in the College of Engineering, while your peer group will give you community in your major from the very beginning of your first year. Through a weekly one-hour seminar and a variety of fun social activities, you learn all about the resources available at UCSB and the exciting potential internship and job opportunities in your major, and you will get a jumpstart on building community with like-minded students in your discipline. Importantly, not only does it not cost anything to participate in INSPIRE, but we will pay you to participate! You will earn $300 for your completion of the Fall and Winter quarter components of the program.

In the 2024-25 academic year, INSPIRE is open to low-income and/or first-generation college students in Chemical Engineering and Computer Science. In future years, it will be open to students in all engineering majors.

INSPIRE will help you with your UCSB goals!

Introducing Computer Science Freshmen to UC Santa Barbara College of Engineering's INSPIRE Program

Introducing Chemical Engineering Freshmen to UC Santa Barbara College of Engineering's INSPIRE Program

INSPIRE

Program Details

INSPIRE Scholars will enroll in a one-unit seminar, Engr 13A in the Fall and Engr 13B in the Winter quarter of their first-year. The seminar will be run by Profs. Elizabeth Belding and Diba Mirza in Computer Science, and Prof. Joe Chada in Chemical Engineering, as well as by junior- and senior-year peer mentors from these departments. Weekly content will consist of campus field trips, games, and other activities designed to provide you with the information and skills you need to begin your academic studies at UCSB with success! There will also be occasional social activities, such as lunches, with your peer group and mentor.

How to enroll: To enroll in INSPIRE, you need to receive an invitation to participate in the program. Space is limited. Once you have been invited to participate and have agreed to enroll in the Fall and Winter Engr 13A and B seminars, you will be provided with an add code and specific information about how to enroll in the seminar in GOLD. In Fall 2024, Engr 13A will be offered Fridays at 9:30-10:45am.

If you need assistance using GOLD, check out the GOLD 101 Basics video.

The INSPIRE program is supported by National Science Foundation Hispanic-Serving Institutions grant 2345377