An Extraordinary Story: Dimo Dimitrov’s ’07

A primary purpose of the “Extraordinary Opportunities” campaign is to increase unrestricted giving to support current operations of the college. The Annual Fund is a “living endowment” that allows the college to plan confidently, to minimize increases in tuition and fees, and to support the college’s highest priorities. Our Cornell Fellows Program benefits directly from Annual Fund gifts. Learn more ...

Dimo Dimitrov’s Cornell Fellowship at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids wasn’t simply preparation for his future. It became his future. Dimitrov now works as a software engineer at the international avionics communications firm. And, after sponsoring the Fellowship, Rockwell was able to hire an employee it knew was a good fit.

Dimitrov, a native of Bulgaria, was a computer science and mathematics major who, prior to his senior year, had almost no work experience in the field. As the Rockwell Collins Fellow in Commercial Systems Engineering, he was given an opportunity to get both experience and a foot in the door at a major company.

“I was lucky to be able to work for a big company like Rockwell,” he said. “This fellowship showed me how my knowledge and skills acquired at Cornell can be applied in the work environment.”

Dimitrov’s advisor, Professor Tony deLaubenfels, brought the fellowship to his attention after Dimitrov began to realize he wasn’t sure where and how to find an internship in his field.

“The fellowship came at the right time,” Dimitrov said. “I was getting into the last semester of my senior year and I had not had any real work experience.”

During his fellowship, Dimitrov worked on a Web application called Skills Assessment Web Tool, which allowed employees and management to rate themselves and their employees on where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

The experience helped Dimitrov determine that not only was he in the right field of work, he wanted to stay at Rockwell.“On my last day I got an offer for full-time employment as a software engineer,” he said. “I enjoyed my fellowship so much that I decided to continue working for this company."

Cornell is grateful for all the sponsors of its 60 Fellowships during the program’s first three years. The Fellowships truly provide extraordinary opportunities for Cornell students.