ASME Scholarships Awarded to 70 Student Members for 2018-2019

For nearly 20 years, ASME has helped ensure the future of the engineering profession by providing financial support to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students. This year, 70 ASME student members received nearly $260,000 in scholarships through the ASME Foundation Scholarship Program and the ASME Auxiliary Scholarship Program.

More than 30 different scholarships were offered through the ASME Scholarship Program for the 2018-2019 school year, including the Kenneth Andrew Roe Scholarship, the new ASME S&C (Standards & Certification) Division Scholarship, the Virginia Tech Memorial Scholarship and the Frank & Dorothy Miller Scholarship.

Elizabeth Stapleton

Elizabeth Stapleton, a senior at Oral Roberts University was the recipient of ASME’s largest single-year scholarship and was named the Kenneth Andrew Roe Scholar for 2018-2019. The $13,000 scholarship, which is given to a junior or senior studying mechanical engineering, was established in 1991 in memory of the ASME past president and chair of the ASME Foundation.

Stapleton, who is vice chair of the ASME student chapter at her university, said the scholarship would enable her to finish her final year at the university as well as dedicate more time to encouraging greater student involvement with ASME at Oral Roberts University and participate in service projects, such as continuing to develop a sustainable sanitation and water supply system in Harare, Zimbabwe. “By creating a strategic bridge between engineering students, ASME, and the engineering community at large, I believe there is great potential to inspire the application of engineering to meet many of society’s greatest needs,” Stapleton wrote in response to receiving the scholarship. “I am excited about the possibilities, and I am genuinely thankful to ASME for this award.”

Kyle Swoffer

Another ASME student member, Kyle Swoffer, was named as the recipient of ASME’s newest scholarship, ASME S&C (Standards & Certification) Division Scholarship. Sponsored by the S&C Division, this multi-year scholarship of up to $10,000 per year is awarded to ASME student members in their early years of undergraduate study who exhibit an interest in technology fields related to ASME S&C such as clean energy, pressure technology, transportation, bioprocessing, medical devices, cranes and lifting devices, elevators and escalators, manufacturing, turbine generators, and risk analysis.

In his letter, Swoffer, who is beginning his sophomore year at Kettering University in Flint, Mich., thanked the S&C Division for awarding him the $10,000 scholarship. The scholarship “will further push me to continue my efforts and in turn promote success in my studies,” he said. “The impact it will have on my life and education is incredible.” Swoffer, who works part-time at General Dynamics Land Systems as part of Kettering’s co-op program in addition to his studies, said that while his school workload has made it difficult to participate in ASME activities, he intends to become more involved with the Society after graduating and obtain geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) training through ASME.

Eurydice Kanimba

This year’s recipient of the Virginia Tech Memorial Scholarship, Eurydice Kanimba, is pursuing a Ph.D. at Virginia Tech. The $4,000 scholarship, which was established in commemoration of the 2007 tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is open to student members earning a master’s degree or a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the university.

Kanimba, who hails from Rwanda and was the recipient of two previous ASME scholarships as an undergraduate at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, said that as a student who arrived in the United States barely able to speak English she truly appreciated the support that ASME has provided to help her complete her education. She also hopes her story will “inspire students of similar backgrounds to strive for the pursuit of their education regardless of their financial situation,” she wrote.

A student member of ASME since she was a student Midwestern State and served as president, vice president and secretary of the school’s ASME student chapter, Kanimba would like to continue her association with the Society by applying what she has learned in her graduate studies as a judge or advisor for the ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) — particularly the ISHOW in Kenya, she said. “The social implications of hardware-based engineering solutions have always interested me, and I believe the formal education I am receiving at Virginia Tech is preparing me well for such a role,” she wrote.

Alexandra Crump

Alexandra Crump, a junior at the University of Missouri, was one of two recipients of the Frank & Dorothy Miller Scholarship this year, along with Daniel Speer of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The $2,000 scholarship is awarded to ASME student members in their second, third or fourth year of study based on their character, integrity, leadership and potential contributions to the mechanical engineering profession.

Crump, who served as an executive member of her university’s ASME student chapter last year, said receiving the scholarship from ASME will enable her to remain involved in ASME activities, such as the upcoming Student Design Competition, as well continue to take part in a new underwater robotics group she helped establish at her university. “Participating in my local ASME organization has made my college experience so much more valuable,” she wrote. “I have gained so many friends and colleagues. With this scholarship, I will be able to devote more time to ASME as well as my other organization SURF, the Students Underwater Robotics Foundation.” Without the scholarship, she said, she wouldn’t have been able to stay active in these groups because she would have had to work instead.

To view the complete list of 2018-2019 ASME scholarship winners, visit the Scholarship Winners web page on ASME.org.

For more information on the ASME Scholarship Program, visit www.asme.org/career-education/scholarships-and-grants/scholarship-and-loans. To learn how you can support the program with a gift to the ASME Foundation, go to www.asme.org/about-asme/get-involved/asme-foundation.