SELF on the Road

The purpose of SELF on the Road (SOTR) is to give the rising third-year class of SELF Fellows the opportunity to travel to a location with close ties to KU and serve as ambassadors of the University, the School of Engineering, and the SELF Program. SOTR will provide students with outstanding networking opportunities as well as the chance to visit leading engineering and technology companies and learn more about their innovations and discoveries. 

In 2018, the SELF Program began the process of transitioning the SELF on the Road experience to the summer between the second and third years. In August 2023, the Class of 2025 visited Portland, Oregon.

SELF on the Road History

The inaugural SELF on the Road took place in August 2014. Students from the SELF Class of 2015 visited Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. The Class of 2016 Fellows visited Seattle and Portland in August 2015. In August 2016, the Class of 2017 visited Houston and Austin, Texas. Visits included both global, legacy firms like CP Chem and ExxonMobil, and successful startups like Square Root in Austin.  

The Fellows of the Class of 2018 traveled to Los Angeles to visit with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The Spaceship Company, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, California Resources Corporation, and Avery Dennison.