Snapshot

Terms and Dates:

  • Academic Year 2024-25
    April 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025

Advisor:

Maja Anderson

Overview

Opportunity Description

The Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Program promotes ethical leadership and international research around the world—starting with the passionate leaders and learners found on campuses like Cornell.

With generous support for your research, leadership development, and a summer abroad putting your skills into action, this 20-month program for emerging leaders lays out a path for you to invest your skills, knowledge, and experience to help others. As a Laidlaw scholar, your talent and motivation are cultivated through research, leadership training and experiences, and networking with like-minded peers.

Over two years, Laidlaw scholars become skilled researchers, embrace data-based decision-making, and learn to lead with integrity.

Interested in joining our next cohort of scholars? The application deadline is 1/31/24

The Program's Key Components

Research

You will spend your first summer as a Laidlaw scholar working on campus on an internationally-focused research project that is supervised by a faculty member or an experienced research team. Your work is supported by a stipend.

Leadership Training

Leadership training is an essential component of the program that continues throughout your time as a Laidlaw scholar. You’ll learn core leadership values and skills that include how to be a global citizen, prioritize collective action and critical reflection, and meaningfully engage with your community. 

Leadership-in-Action Experience

Spend your second summer abroad, putting your knowledge to use in the real world. You will be able to choose from a variety of options:

Laidlaw scholar Eli Newell takes a photo of plants with his phone.
"Participating in the Laidlaw Scholars Program has been a great privilege of my time at Cornell. The two-year duration of the scholarship has allowed me to be intensely involved with my professor’s research program at Cornell and with her partner in Kenya, introducing me to the best colleagues and most rewarding experiences." —Eli Newell '24
  1. A central leadership program
  2. Community-engaged leadership
  3. In-field application of research

Networking

Over your two years in the program, you will get to know like-minded scholars who are passionate about Laidlaw's shared values. The international network of Laidlaw scholars extends beyond Cornell University to a global community that shares an online space for continued collaboration.

Learn more about the Laidlaw Scholars Program.

Apply Here