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Amplified Studios Application

Introduction

Amplified Studios is a brand new, term-based program for students who want to continue developing promising design projects beyond the classroom. Selected individuals and teams receive funding, advising, lab access, and a small cohort structure to help turn strong course projects into stronger prototypes, pilots, exhibitions, research artifacts, portfolio pieces, or even venture concepts.

The program is designed for student projects emerging from human-centered design, engineering, and other design-driven courses at Dartmouth. This program is supported by the Design Initiative at Dartmouth (DIAD).

Do note that this is a co-curricular program (i.e., not an enrolled course) so candidates must be highly self-motivated to allocate time and efforts to their projects.

What each selected project receives:

Up to $500 in project support for materials, prototyping, user research, fabrication, software, testing, or presentation needs

Faculty and Staff advising to help sharpen the project direction and next steps

Access to relevant labs, tools, and campus resources where available

A studio cohort experience with other student teams continuing high-potential design work

A final opportunity to share the work through a studio showcase

Who should apply

Students may apply as individuals or teams. We are looking for projects that have already shown promise in a course or design setting and would benefit from additional time, support, and structure.

Projects may include physical products, digital tools, service concepts, AI-enabled experiences, campus or community interventions, speculative design work, research-driven prototypes, or early venture ideas.

What we look for

Strong applications will show:

A clear human-centered problem or opportunity

Evidence of thoughtful design work already completed (e.g., multiple iterations with early user-testing validation)

A realistic plan for what the project could become next

A good fit between the project’s needs and DIAD’s support

A commitment to learning through prototyping, testing, and iteration

Timeline

Amplified Studios will run every term. The first accepted team began in Summer 2026. Interested and ready students maybe apply throughout the academic year.