How does the Gemstone team selection process work?

The second semester of the freshman year, students take GEMS102, a course entirely devoted to the team selection process. In this class, all students first brainstorm and submit a variety of ideas. The Director and Associate Director of the Gemstone Program then review the submitted ideas and accept the feasible projects, moving them into the second step. In the next phase, students get their project ideas “vetted” by an expert in the field to ensure that the project is realistic and possible. From this point, the topics brainstormed at the beginning are narrowed down through a preference voting process. Each week, the students who are very interested in a particular project will advertise their idea and present it in front of the entire freshman class. Each student votes to narrow down the possibilities. At the end of the semester, students vote for the project they want to spend the next 3 years working on, ranking projects by preference. Students will then be placed on teams of 8- ...  more

The second semester of the freshman year, students take GEMS102, a course entirely devoted to the team selection process. In this class, all students first brainstorm and submit a variety of ideas. The Director and Assistant Director of the Gemstone Program then review the submitted ideas and accept the feasible projects, moving them into the second step. In the next phase, students get their project ideas “vetted” by an expert in the field to ensure that the project is realistic and possible. From this point, the topics brainstormed at the beginning are narrowed down through a preference voting process. Each week, the students who are very interested in a particular project will advertise their idea and present it in front of the entire freshman class. Each student votes to narrow down the possibilities. At the end of the semester, students vote for the project they want to spend the next 3 years working on, ranking projects by preference.  more