Baker & Cook Fellowship

The Baker and Cook Fellowship | Sponsored by Atomic Object, Ann Arbor

Students of color, especially Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic Latinx students, are chronically underrepresented in STEM careers. There are many factors that play into this reality, but one is that people of color tend not to have a professional support network to lean on throughout their education in STEM. By founding this fellowship, we intend to build a bridge from our organization to these individuals to provide this support. Atomic Object is uniquely positioned to be able to provide both financial and academic support to BIPOC students seeking to enter STEM with a formal degree.

Fellowship Application Criteria

Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC) student enrolled in a high school in Washtenaw County and graduating in 2024, intending to major in Computer Science or currently enrolled in Computer Science courses in high school.

To apply, please answer one of the following three essay prompts. Your response should be 500 words or less. Attach your response in any file format you'd like as part of this application form.

1. Tell us about a time you created something you were really proud of. 
   1. What was it?
   2. What was hard about the creation process?
   3. What did you learn?
2. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
3. Take a moment and visualize yourself 5 years in the future. Look back at what happened in the last 5 years. 
   1. What happened? 
   2. What have you accomplished? 
   3. What are you doing with your life?

Financial Support: Minimum Fellowship Salary Amount:

$2,500 per year for 4 years
This is not an educational scholarship/grant or a loan, and therefore will not impact other financial aid awards.

Ongoing College Support for Participants

• Up to 4 hours per week of interaction with Atomic Object
  • Studying
  • 1:1 mentoring with a software engineer or company executive
  • Additional ad-hoc work for additional pay
  • Academic planning
  • Following a curriculum focused on College Success
  • Job shadowing
  • Participating in technical projects with Atomic
• Weekly 30-minute 1:1 check-ins with a designated mentor
• Each year Atomic Object can provide assistance in job/internship search including:
  • Resume review
  • Interview prep
  • Job posting review
  • Job offer negotiation
  • Career planning

Ongoing College Support can purposefully be suspended during summer months to encourage participants to take advantage of the opportunity to intern elsewhere.

The Company

Since 2001, Atomic Object has created custom software products for web, mobile, desktop, and internet-connected devices. We were founded on the belief that not all software is created equal. Many people can write code, but it takes a close-knit team of passionate people to create exceptional, innovative products that change the way people do business.

We’re an employee-owned company and a certified B Corporation with 80+ Atoms based in our Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Chicago offices. Unlike many other technology companies, we have a flat organization. There is no corporate ladder to climb. As a company that values transparency, we practice open-books management. At Atomic, you can stay close to the craft of making software for your entire career without missing out on owning a part of the company and its profits.