It is a sad fact of life that when the economy is performing poorly, as the U.S. economy has been doing for the past several months, people are out of work and more of those people choose to go back to school to further their education.

Unfortunately, this poor performance in the economy also gives scholarship granting institutions less income on their investments, and, therefore, less money to distribute to needy students at a time when those students need it most.

We were fortunate in the past 10 years or so to be able to give substantial scholarships to mechanical engineering students.

Unless the economy grows substantially in the months leading to June 2002, the amount of money available this year will not be as substantial as it has been in past years. We will, however, be granting some scholarships, as we always keep a certain amount in reserve for this purpose.

There is also loan money available for needy students. Information about that can also be obtained through the Web site by going to www.asme.org and then searching for financial aid.

The Rice-Cullimore Task Force, comprised of chair R.A. Bennett, Carolyn Chenoweth, David Soukup and Nina Webb, decided at the meeting in November to continue to use IIE (Institute of International Education) for the time being as the source of applicants for the Rice-Cullimore scholarship, although the chair of the committee will send an application for ASME membership to the winners, along with their congratulatory letter.

A motion was also passed to give recipients of the Rice-Cullimore scholarship a one-year membership in ASME. Rice-Cullimore scholarships are awarded to non-U.S. students, who will attend graduate school in the United States.

The ASME Auxiliary will pay for the one-year student membership from the Rice-Cullimore unrestricted funds.

— Ella Baldwin-Viereck
Auxiliary publicity chair

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