- Applicants selected as Wavemaker Fellows will receive an annual refundable tax credit against their Rhode Island income tax to defray the cost of student loan repayments.
- To be eligible, an applicant must:
- Have a two-year, four-year or graduate degree from an accredited institution. The Commerce Corporation references the U.S. Department of Education's list of accredited institutions.
- Have annual higher education loan repayment expenses.
- Work full-time, or have an offer of employment to work full-time, in Rhode Island in one or more of the following fields: life, natural or environmental sciences; computer, information or software technology; advanced mathematics or finance; engineering; industrial design or other commercially related design field; or medicine or medical device technology.
- Pending eligibility (reviewed in 12-month intervals post-acceptance), Fellows can receive tax credits for up to four years equal to the Fellow’s annual loan repayment expenses up to the following caps:
- $6,000 for a Fellow with a Master's degree or higher
- $4,000 for a Fellow with a Bachelor’s degree
- $1,000 for a Fellow with an Associate’s degree
- The credit can be applied against Rhode Island income tax or redeemed for the cash equivalent Note: refunds of the tax credit may be subject to federal income tax.
- Fellows will be chosen on a merit basis by a Fellowship Committee
- When evaluating applications, the Wavemaker Fellowship Committee gives priority to:
- Applicants who demonstrate the greatest value to RI’s advanced economy, whether through importance of their position to their employer and/or the state's economy, based on the position's seniority, scarcity, value-add, and other factors:
- Applicants who work in STEM STEM List 2022 or commercially relevant design roles critical to RI’s advanced economy (including, but not limited to field such as: biomedical innovation; IT, cyber and data analytics; defense, shipbuilding and maritime; advanced business services; design, food and custom manufacturing; arts, education and tourism; and/or distribution, transportation & logistics);
- Applicants for whom the award will play a substantial role of keeping them in RI;
- Applicants for whom the award would represent ‘last dollar funding
- Only applications meeting the eligibility requirements will be considered
- The Fellowship Committee will review applications on a name-blind and employer-blind basis, meaning the name of the applicant and employer will be removed from all materials reviewed by the Fellowship Committee. The members of the Fellowship Committee are:
Ms. Olivia Byron, Ms. Erin Donovan-Boyle, Ms. Janet Raymond, Mr. Chris Cannata, Mr. Patrick Duffy.
- Download the Wavemaker Fellowship program one-pager here.
Wavemaker Fellowship governing documents:
- The Wavemaker Fellowship Act is available here
- The complete Rules & Regulations are available here
Wavemaker Fellowship Award Winners: