SME Education Foundation awards 2007 scholarships

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Foundation recently announced the winners of its annual Directors and Family Student Scholarships. The top award, the SME Family Scholarship, will provide four years of full tuition for high school senior Levi Gamble, of Ramona, Calif., to help fund his undergraduate degree in engineering. Monica Denis, a senior at Michigan’s Kettering University, and Tristan Wagner, a senior at Oregon State University, each received the SME Education Foundation Directors Scholarship, a one-year award that will help fund the completion of their degrees.

The winners were honored at the SME Annual Meeting and Leadership Luncheon, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.



"One of the most important tasks we can accomplish is to provide support for outstanding students who want to become tomorrow’s manufacturing engineers," said Glen Pearson, president of the SME Education Foundation. "We are proud to offer both financial support as well as our heartfelt encouragement to these deserving, bright students. We believe that the contributions they will make to engineering will ensure a vibrant, healthy future for our industry and our world."



The SME Education Foundation was created by SME in 1979 as a means to transform manufacturing education and enhance manufacturing engineering technology curricula in North American colleges and universities. As a wholly owned subsidiary of SME, governed by its own board of directors, the mission of the SME Education Foundation is to serve the manufacturing community by providing support to the advancement of manufacturing education.



Since 1980, the foundation has provided more than $19 million in cash grants, scholarships and awards. Based upon industry identified competency gaps in the Manufacturing Education Plan, the Foundation has awarded over $15.5 million in grants to 30 colleges and universities in North America since 1998.



Not only does Levi Gamble cite his dad’s bicycle-powered, can-crushing machine as one of his favorite childhood engineering memories, he also credits his father with inspiring him to pursue a manufacturing engineering career.



“I was proud of him as I saw that my father could make something from an idea in his mind,” says Levi. “And that made me think that I could, too.”



With the support of the SME Family Scholarship, Levi will begin that dream this fall, majoring in manufacturing engineering technology and minoring in business management at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. Levi’s goal is to own and operate his own manufacturing business. Levi graduated with honors from Heritage Christian School in San Diego. In addition to earning exceptional grades and taking a heavy load of advanced math and science courses, Levi has already begun compiling a manufacturing engineering resume, with work at Quatro Composites, where he has worked in several areas of the manufacturing process for the past four years.



Children or grandchildren of SME members are eligible for the Family Scholarship. It provides up to $20,000 annually, renewable up to three times based on continued academic excellence, for a total award of up to $80,000. The recipient must be a graduating high school senior or undergraduate student with no more than 30 credit hours, maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, have a minimum SAT score of 1,000 or ACT of 21 and be pursuing a degree in manufacturing engineering, technology or a closely related engineering field of study at an accredited college or university in the United States or Canada.



About the SME Directors Scholarship and Recipients
Monica Denis of Clarkston, Mich., will graduate in 2008 with a dual degree in industrial and mechanical engineering from Kettering University. After graduation, Monica plans to continue her studies with a master’s degree in business at the University of Michigan, and then she intends to go to work at a place where she can “make a difference.”



“I want to be able to improve the efficiency of the company,” says Monica. “Whether it is through shortening standard time on a specific machine, rotating operators to produce the most production per hour, creating the most efficient layout for machinery locations or making sure operations are within ergonomic windows.”



In addition to working several campus jobs to help pay her tuition, Monica has also honed her professional skills in numerous internships at General Motors’ Toledo powertrain plant and structural development labs. Monica devotes her spare time to numerous associations and organizations, such as the Society of Women Engineers for which she has served as vice president and president, SME and the Institute of Industrial Engineers.



Tristan Wagner of Portland, Ore., will graduate from Oregon State University in the fall of 2008 with a dual bachelor’s degree in manufacturing and industrial engineering. He plans to spend his career bringing his two passions — engineering and the environment — together.



“After reading the book ‘Natural Capitalism,’” says Tristan, “I was inspired by its many examples of companies that, through improving their environmental performance, had also dramatically improved their profits. I decided that the field of manufacturing engineering offered me the best opportunity to contribute to society and pursue my ideals.”



A member of Oregon State’s Honors College, Tristan works part-time to help fund his education and also devotes his extracurricular time to numerous organizations such as SME, serving as his student chapter’s secretary for the past two years, and Oregon State’s Student Sustainability Initiative, which he serves as a board member, and through which he will be serving two six-month internships at regional manufacturing companies in the upcoming year.



The Directors Scholarship supports an undergraduate student enrolled in a college or engineering degree program in manufacturing in the United States or Canada. The recipient must have an overall minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, have completed at least 30 college credit hours and demonstrate leadership skills in a community, academic or professional environment.



About the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is the world's leading professional society supporting manufacturing education. Through its member programs, publications, expositions and professional development resources, SME promotes an increased awareness of manufacturing engineering and helps keep manufacturing professionals up to date on leading trends and technologies. Headquartered in Michigan, SME influences more than a half million manufacturing engineers and executives annually. The society has members in 70 countries and is supported by a network of hundreds of chapters worldwide.