UC Student Wins Industrial Designers Society of America Scholarship

The country’s foremost professional organization for industrial designers, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) provides one undergraduate scholarship each year, the IDSA Foundation Scholarship.

This year, the recipient of the prestigious award is Katie Polenick, a senior in the University of Cincinnati’s

nationally No. 1 ranked

industrial design program.

For Polenick, 22, of Warren, Ohio, the $1,500 award means more than just a financial boost to complete her undergraduate education. She explains that the scholarship and the recognition it brings are both great, “especially when it comes from an organization that is well respected in your field. IDSA is a great organization to be connected with in terms of being up to date and relevant in design. The design community is so small in general, and IDSA really facilitates that sense of community. The recognition from my soon-to-be peers of the professional world is definitely the most worthwhile part of receiving the IDSA Design Foundation Scholarship.”

She submitted a portfolio, transcript and personal statement in order to win the award in a competition open to student members of IDSA.

Polenick also states that the scholarship competition itself was a valuable lesson since “the application process showed me that my experience in UC’s industrial design program and the

co-op program

has taught me how to effectively display my skills through a portfolio, which is very important to a designer.”

Polenick originally chose to attend UC’s industrial design program because it was so highly respected and because of the university’s

cooperative education program

, which requires that design students alternate semesters in the classroom with semesters of professionally paid work in their majors. UC is the global founder of co-op, and its co-op program is top ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

She says, “It’s really hard to beat a top program that allows students nearly two years of paid working experience and the opportunity to try different areas of the industry as well as experience different lifestyles and areas of the country prior to graduation.”

She just completed a co-op at at ELEVEN Product Development Studio in Boston, where she worked with industrial designers, researchers and engineers on projects that range from ergonomic home goods to big brand consumer packaging.

Her past co-ops have included

• Dow Corning Corporation, Midland, Mich.
• Legrand North America, West Hartford, Conn.
• Webb de Vlam, Chicago, Il.
  

• See the national No. 1 ranking earned by UC’s undergraduate industrial design program.

• Apply to UC’s undergraduate industrial design program.