Justice, EQUITY, DIVERSITY and INCLUSION SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
We have created the SmithGroup Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Scholarship Program to support and mentor students from historically underrepresented demographics in architecture, interior design, planning, landscape architecture and engineering. The program’s mission is to provide these students with the opportunity to attain their professional goals while advancing the architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) industry and improving the built environment.
This scholarship includes a one-time award of $6,000 to offset the student's tuition at their current academic institution (5 scholarships are awarded each year). Additionally, the scholarship recipients serve as paid summer interns at SmithGroup offices across the United States (internship is a program requirement). Since its inception in 2018, the program has awarded $150,000 to 25 recipients across the United States.
The scholarship includes tuition support as well as a paid summer internship at any one of SmithGroup’s office locations offering the student’s discipline.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Eligibility:
- Applicants must be current undergraduate (at least a junior level standing) or graduate students in an accredited architecture, interior design, planning, landscape architecture or engineering program in the United States.
- Candidates should have a current GPA of 3.0 or better.
- Candidates who are Black/African American, Hispanic, Alaskan Native or American Indian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander are eligible to apply.
- Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.
The 2023 application is now closed.
THE INTERN EXPERIENCE
THE VOICE OF INTERNS: BUILDING A MORE INCLUSIVE INDUSTRY
What does it take to evolve the design industry so that we can design a better future for all? Our 2021 intern class shares their insights and experiences on how EDI plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges of tomorrow.
PAST RECIPIENTS
SMITHGROUP AWARDS 2022 JUSTICE, EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION SCHOLARSHIPS
SmithGroup, one of the nation’s leading integrated design firms, has named the recipients of the 2022 SmithGroup Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (J.E.D.I.) Scholarships. Candidates were solicited through outreach to a wide list of colleges and universities with eligible academic programs, via the firm’s social media platforms, and through professional organizations’ collegiate chapters such as The National Society of Black Engineers, National Organization of Minority Architects, American Society of Landscape Architects and Society of Hispanic Engineers.
J.E.D.I. AT SMITHGROUP
Working to Design a Better Future for All
Often used interchangeably, equity, diversity and inclusion are not synonyms. Each has a different meaning, and each plays a unique yet interrelated role in shaping our design culture and outcomes for a better future together.
HOW WE WORK
Our integrated design process emphasizes multi-disciplinary contributions and weaves together complex inputs into an elegant whole. Our tenacious creativity empowers us and our clients to Design a Better Future.
LEADING THE CONVERSATION
Disrupting White Supremacy in Museum Architecture
In June 2020, the world took to the streets calling for an end to anti-Black racism and police brutality in the wake of the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky by local police officers. Though these protests were far from the first of their kind, they proved to be a watershed moment, forcing a reckoning with racial justice in nearly all aspects of American life, including the arts.
