For students who are finalists for the Hertz Fellowship but are not ultimately selected as Fellows, CWRU plans to offer full financial benefits

Case Western Reserve University has a new offer for the 25 to 30 students each year who are named finalists for the prestigious Hertz Fellowship but are not ultimately selected as Fellows: Matriculate at CWRU and receive full financial benefits. 

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation has agreements in place with more than 40 schools to let students accept their support while pursuing graduate studies. However, the new collaboration between CWRU and the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation represents the first of its kind, acting as a model for other schools to follow, and highlights the commitment of both organizations to support the nation’s most promising young minds in science and technology. 

Every year, the Hertz Foundation selects approximately 45 finalists for the Hertz Fellowships in applied science, mathematics and engineering after a highly selective interview process. All finalists are chosen for their innovative and bold thinking when it comes to some of the most pressing challenges facing our nation and the world. However, only 15 to 20 of those finalists are named Hertz Fellows and receive five years of graduate school funding. 

“We have a unique and rigorous way of evaluating students, and the finalists in our selection process are all extremely talented, creative, special people,” said Derek Haseltine, the director of the Hertz Fellowship Program. “We are incredibly pleased to see an institution stepping up to offer them support.”

“In selecting our graduate students, we look for many of the same qualities that the Hertz Foundation looks for in selecting its finalists and fellows: knowledge, creativity, commitment to leadership and lifelong achievement,” said Harsh Mathur, professor of physics and associate dean for academic affairs, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the College of Arts and Sciences. “We know from experience that anyone selected as a Hertz Finalist is going to be exactly the kind of student that will fit in here.”

The new collaboration was spearheaded in part by Lee Swanger, a principal engineer at Exponent Inc. and a member of the Hertz Foundation board of directors. Swanger attended CWRU as an undergraduate before being named a 1970 Hertz Fellow to pursue a PhD in materials science and engineering. Other connections between the institutions include Hertz Fellow John Lewandowski, a professor of materials science and engineering at CWRU, and Hertz Fellow Jay Henderson IV, who carried out postdoctoral training at the university. 

“As both a graduate of Case Western Reserve and a Hertz Fellow, I have long felt that the missions and strengths of CWRU and the Hertz Foundation are closely aligned,” said Swanger. “I think that by expanding support for young scientists and engineers, this collaboration will benefit both organizations.”

To take part in the new offer, Hertz Fellowship applicants must express their interest in CWRU as part of their initial fellowship application. If they advance as a Hertz Fellowship Finalist and are admitted to CWRU and choose to enroll in engineering, math or applied physical and biological sciences, they will receive a fully funded, five-year fellowship from CWRU matching the benefits of a Hertz Fellowship. 

“When we’re thinking about the type of individual that we want to welcome into our community and that would really add value to our programs, Hertz Finalists are in line with every characteristic we are looking for,” said Lauren Biddlecombe, assistant dean of strategic initiatives at Case School of Engineering.

CWRU has nationally ranked graduate programs in many of the academic areas typically pursued by Hertz Fellows, including biomedical engineering, electrochemistry, bio-inspired robotics and applied mathematics. In addition, the university has a strong focus on interdisciplinary sciences and addressing the grand challenges of society through collaborative research. 

“This is a time in the university’s history where we are making significant investments in the research enterprise and we are looking to attract the top graduate students in the country to Case Western Reserve,” said Chris Zorman, Case School of Engineering’s senior associate dean. “We hope that this collaboration makes finalists consider these and the other research strengths of Case Western Reserve.”

For the Hertz Foundation, the new initiative adds to a growing list of partnerships with influential organizations in science, technology, national security, and philanthropy. In recent years, the foundation has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hertz Corporation, and the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group, among other organizations, to enhance the Hertz Fellowship experience. 

The 2025 Hertz Fellowship finalists will be announced in February 2025, and the 2025 Hertz Fellowship class will be announced in May 2025.