NIU students to work on new technologies with Discover mentors
Discover Financial Services and Northern Illinois University are announcing the launch of a program that will provide tech-savvy students with opportunities on the university's campus to help research and develop new technologies for the company.
The initiative, dubbed the Discover Campus Innovator Program, will kick off this coming fall in a newly renovated, 5,900-square-foot area of "71 North," the university's collaborative space for innovation centrally located on campus in the bottom level of Founders Memorial Library. Discover and NIU have entered into an agreement, whereby the company will lease and renovate the space.
Students selected for the program will be paid to work on and help develop new Discover technologies in the areas of mobile-software development, web-application coding, and person-to-person payment systems. They also will be able to present their work and ideas to peers and company representatives, providing them with an opportunity to experience Discover's company culture. The company recruited students for the program earlier this spring.
"Discover has a long-standing tradition of promoting education and developing products and services that help our customers better manage their finances," said Glenn Schneider, chief information officer at Discover and an NIU alumnus.
"We envisioned 71 North as a place for hands-on learning and collaborations with businesses," NIU Acting President Lisa Freeman said. "Discover provides a great anchor to this space - and we couldn't be more thrilled for our students about this unique on-campus program. It will provide valuable learning experiences that will help students find employment once they graduate, and the project also serves as a terrific example of successful alumni coming back to engage our students."
Suchomel first proposed the program during a visit to campus to speak with students in computer science, one of NIU's academic programs that stands to benefit. Since the fall of 2012, NIU's undergraduate enrollment in computer science has surged by more than 50 percent.
"We are looking for students with a passion for exploring new ideas, collaborating and problem solving in agile teams, designing new solutions and developing innovative applications," Suchomel said. "More importantly, we're looking for students who live our values, empower and support each other, and are committed to building tools that will ultimately improve the lives of our customers."