Interdisciplinary Scholars Partnering for Action and Research with Communities
i-SPARC aligns graduate education at UWM with Milwaukee’s and Wisconsin’s pressing challenges.
i-SPARC is a graduate school-community partnership program where community organizations define real-world challenges, and UWM scholar teams respond to these challenges through applied research, innovation, and collaboration. Graduate students from across the university are selected annually to be members of the interdisciplinary i-SPARC teams that uniquely align with projects identified for the year. i-SPARC strengthens UWM’s role as a community-engaged research institution by aligning graduate education with Milwaukee and Wisconsin’s pressing challenges. The i-SPARC program includes training in Team Science, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking, and Scholarly Communication, providing a great compliment to the scholars’ formal academic training.
Impact for Graduate Students:
- Apply your expertise to real-world problems
- Collaborate across disciplines
- Gain hands-on experience creating impact in Milwaukee and Wisconsin
- Add experience and products to your CV/resume
- Earn an honorarium at end of project
- Make an impact as a UWM i-SPARC Scholar!
What does being an i-SPARC Scholar require?
- This is an in-person program with activities occurring on campus and in the community.
- Academic year commitment (2-semesters)
- 4-6 hours of commitment per week (time investments will vary across weeks)
- Commitment to being a team member, working with and learning from the community partner and students from other disciplines
- Interest in applying your skills to real-world problems.
- Reporting to the Graduate School for mentoring and advisement for this project
- Deliverables include, but are not limited to: A public presentation at the end of the project, a written report/technical paper for the partner organization, and other potential scholarly products (with approval of the Graduate School and the partner organization).
UWM Graduate School i-SPARC staff:
- Bryan Porter, Dean
- Victoria Moerchen, Associate Dean, i-SPARC Director
- Riley Harrison, Fellowships & Outreach Coordinator, i-SPARC co-Director
UWM Contributing faculty:
- Ilya Avdeev, PhD Director, Lubar Entrepreneurship Center
- Sarah MacDonald, PhD Training & Dispute Resolution Specialist Community Empowerment and Institutional Inclusivity
- Benjamin Trager, PhD Director of Community Engagement and Experien al Learning Center for Student Experience and Talent