NDSU communication professor Ross Collins has turned his fascination with how people use smartphones into a way to raise money for student scholarships.

During the past year, Collins has taken photos of people using smartphones all over the world. He originally posted the series of travel photos on Facebook. When he noticed how well his Facebook friends responded, he saw the opportunity to create a novel, communication-related product as a scholarship fundraiser.

With help from the NDSU Department of Communication, Collins created “Smartphone Universe,” a 2014 calendar featuring 12-full color photographs of smartphone use around the world. All proceeds from calendar sales will go to the Dorothy Collins Memorial Endowment to fund scholarships for communication students who work at the Spectrum, NDSU’s student newspaper.

Collins, son of Dorothy Collins, said his mother was a huge supporter of student journalism. She was a journalist for more than 50 years and got her start in the profession as editor of the University of Washington Daily in 1953.

For more information or to order a calendar, contact Collins at ross.collins@ndsu.edu. The application for the Dorothy Collins Memorial Scholarship and other communication department scholarships is available at www.ndsu.edu/communication/scholarships.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.