Scholarship is a product of ASME and Heim Foundation collaboration

Maxine Rosen
ASME Operations

The Bruce J. Heim Foundation and ASME will partner in a program to advance the exploration of space. The initiative will take the form of a scholarship for a student pursuing a graduate degree in mechanical engineering with career aspirations in the field of space exploration.

The collaboration with ASME marks the first time the foundation has specifically supported an engineering program.

Bruce Heim was a successful securities analyst and investment banker. But as a child, he had to overcome serious learning disabilities, which he did with the help of private tutors. His gratitude for the good fortune that enabled him to get the help he needed was coupled with his dedication to serving others.

In 1986, when he was 34, he established the foundation that bears his name. Barbara Pailet, executive director of the small, private foundation, Heim and the foundation board worked closely to define the mission and operation of the foundation, which she and a dedicated board have carried out since Heim's untimely death in 1990.

The Bruce J. Heim Foundation has funded scholarships and a wide range of special projects at major universities, independent secondary schools and other institutions. It was looking for a new program to capitalize on the potential of gifted students and a partner that had a scholarship program with a proven track record.

One of the board members, Sasha Pailet Hoff, a mechanical engineering graduate, brought the work of ASME to the attention of the foundation. Another board member has a NASA astronaut as a member of his extended family. It was the interest of these two board members that shaped the scholarship parameters.

The Board on Engineering Education recently named Henry Padilla, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to be ASME's first Bruce J. Heim Scholar. Padilla's research involves the application of alloyed aluminum for spacecraft and airframe construction. The scholarship is valued at $1,500.

Information on how to apply for this and other ASME scholarships is available at www.asme.org/education/enged/aid/scholar.htm.

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