Bowdoin and the Roux Institute have signed an agreement signaling their mutual intention to work together to develop cooperative arrangements to enhance the respective educational missions of the institutions, as well as the relationship between the institutions, including educational and employment opportunities for Bowdoin students and graduates and collaborative possibilities for Bowdoin faculty.
Both institutions share the goal of transforming the State of Maine and northern New England into a research-intensive technology hub that attracts and retains talent in these fields.
Plans are underway to set up a 4+1 program in computer science. The 4+1 program allows Bowdoin students to start taking courses toward their master’s degree at the Roux Institute while still enrolled as an undergraduate student at Bowdoin.
Roux master’s programs include experiential learning in the coursework. Students may also have the opportunity to participate in a co-op, which provides excellent embedded training and networking for long-term employment in Maine.
Additional collaboration between Bowdoin’s Career Exploration and Development (CXD) and Roux will include opportunities for Bowdoin students to participate in entrepreneurship events and programs, including Maine Start Summit.
Start Summits are fun, fast-paced weekend events that give undergrads an opportunity to experience building a startup team and racing to develop a business, all with the support of experts and colleagues. In the spring, the Roux Institute hosted a Maine Start Summit focused on food systems and agricultural technology. The next event will be in September and focus on ideas in Blue Tech, but also offers a general path for business ideas in a sector of the participant's choice.
Two Bowdoin students, Roxana Valdez '24 and Ramiro Storni '23, have spent the summer engaging in innovative research projects with the aim of increasing the number of Bowdoin students doing summer research at Roux and the number of students employed as interns at one of Roux’s twenty-six corporate partners.
Designed as an engine of innovation, talent building, and economic growth for Portland, Maine, and northern New England, the Roux Institute has been partnering with leading companies and nonprofit organizations at the table from day one, creating programs that are preparing the workforce to stay agile and thrive in a competitive landscape powered by artificial intelligence.
Bowdoin shares a long history with David Roux, a former trustee of the College, and his wife, Barbara Roux. The couple’s generous gift initiated the Roux Center for the Environment, which was completed in fall 2018. The Roux Center brings together faculty from across academic disciplines to encourage collaboration and creativity in the teaching and scholarship of the environment and further strengthens Bowdoin’s position as a leader in this field of study.
David and Barbara Roux also have extensive family ties to the College. David Roux’s father, Donald Roux, is a member of the Class of 1955; his brother, James Roux, was a member of the Class of 1981; his sister, Mary Roux Train, a member of the Class of 1991. David Roux’s mother, Constance “Connie” Roux—the sister of Maine’s former governor James B. Longley, a member of the Class of 1948—also took classes at the College.
The Roux Institute also helps entrepreneurs launch businesses focused on and powered by technology and with its partners is creating an innovation corridor that will stretch from Boston to Portland and beyond. More about the Roux Institute.
