The Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) is a co-curricular program designed for Bachelor and Master’s degree students, which has been implemented by more than 70 universities in the US, and by a growing number of academic institutions around the world.

Campus Bio-Medico di Roma is among the first three Italian Universities to have joined the Program through the Faculty of Engineering and of Science and Technology for Humans and the Environment.


The Program aims at emphasizing the role of Engineering and other Sciences to improve life on the planet, transforming it into a better place, where human life is healthier, safer, more sustainable and joyful. The National Academy of Engineering has identified 14 Grand Challenges and addressing them is essential to achieve this objective:

  • Advance Personalized Learning
  • Make Solar Energy Economical
  • Enhance Virtual Reality
  • Reverse-Engineer the Brain
  • Engineer Better Medicines
  • Advance Health Informatics
  • Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure
  • Secure Cyberspace
  • Provide Access to Clean Water
  • Provide Energy from Fusion
  • Prevent Nuclear Terror
  • Manage the Nitrogen Cycle
  • Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods
  • Engineer the Tools of Scientific Discovery

By writing their thesis around a topic linked to one or several of the 14 Grand Challenges, GCSP students have the opportunity to understand the great potential of science and technology to transform the planet. In addition, GCSP students are offered co-curricular courses for the development of four cross-cutting competences that can help them tackle the Grand Challenges more effectively and strengthen their professional profile:

> Multidisciplinarity. Understanding that innovative solutions require the integration of different scientific disciplines.

> Entrepreneurship. Understanding the need for a viable “business model” to implement solutions in a real-life environment.

> Multiculturality. Understanding the different impact and acceptance that technology solutions may have in different cultural environments.

> Social Consciousness. Ability to evaluate the degree of effectiveness of any proposed solutions in fulfilling the primary requirement to serve people and society.

The GCSP has an international character and offers the opportunity to spend time abroad, interacting with people from different cultures and with faculty members/students from the other universities participating in the Program.

GCSP activities at Campus Bio-Medico are coordinated by a Steering Committee composed of:

Prof. A. Altomare, M. Bertolaso, and L. Corti for the Faculty of Science and Technology for Humans and the Environment;

and Prof. L. Di Paola, R. Guida, G. Pennazza, E. Schena and S. Scialla for the Faculty of Engineering.

>> For any further information, please refer to the NAE GCSP website or contact S. Scialla [email protected].