Sixteen student winners are chosen to receive ASME's Clarke Scholarship

Maxine Rosen
ASME Operations

Sixteen freshmen entering college this fall are the recipients of a Clarke Scholarship. The students attend one of the five schools selected to receive $6,000 from the ASME Clarke Scholarship, to be awarded to incoming freshmen, based on the activities of its ASME student section. Each school determined the amount of the award for its students and set the criteria for selecting the winners.

Christina Scales's favorite courses in high school were calculus, physics and drafting. Since attending the Space Academy and Advanced Space Academy in Huntsville, Ala., she has wanted to work for NASA in design of robotics or spacecraft or in mission control.

Clarke Scholarship recipients from Rowan Univer-sity: (l-r) John Chen, associate professor; Carolyn Hampton; Dona Johnson; Jason Rivera; and T.R. Chandrupatla, professor and chair.

Scales received a Clarke Scholarship from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., as did Nolan Barr and Michael Holland. Purdue's ASME student section organizes technical, service and social activities that complement academic training and has a positive impact on developing the total professional.

Jason Rivera is a well-rounded student who has excelled academically. In high school, he was inducted into the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society, nominated for "Who's Who Among American High School Students," and awarded the U.S. Army Reserve National Scholar/Athlete Award.

Rivera hopes to acquire his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with a specialization in aerospace engineering, and go on to earn advanced degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Along with Carolyn Hampton and Dona Johnson, Rivera received a Clarke Scholarship from Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J.

Rowan is matching the Clarke Scholarship with a research assistantship next summer, which will allow the students to work with the faculty member of their choice on a project of interest to them.

Michael Frede, Elizabeth Linder and Steven Teubel received their Clarke Scholarships from the University of Dayton in Ohio. They were chosen on the basis of academic performance, financial need and, most especially, their record of involvement in school and community. Service is an important part of the school's mission.

Elizabeth, for example, was not only president of her school's National Honor Society and captain of the softball team, but participated in volunteer activities with programs such as Youth Elect Service, Reach our Youth and Make-a-Difference Day. The ASME student section at the University of Dayton has participated in a wide range of professional activities, winning many regional contests and placing high at the interregional level.

Jay Samuel, the faculty advisor for the ASME student chapter at the University of Wisconsin, presents a Clarke Scholarship certificate to Angela Franze.

On learning of the award she received through the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Angela Franzke wrote, "This scholarship will be a huge help to me in being able to pay for college, and allowing me to concentrate on my education — an important thing to me — instead of concentrating on a job."

Classmates Jason August and Chris Clifford also received the Clarke Scholarship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jay Samuel, an ASME member and the student section advisor, noted, "The hard work and commitment of the ASME student section has culminated in the winning of the Allied Signal/Ingersoll-Rand Award for the past five years. The ASME officers' board was particularly proud when they found out they had won the Clarke Scholarship for the college."

Dr. Samuel presents Chris Clifford with a Clarke Scholarship certificate.

Like his father, an engineer, Chris Clifford has always enjoyed math and science. On learning he had received the award, Clifford thanked the Clarke Scholarship Committee, saying, "This extra money will make the year easier. It will allow me to worry less about paying for college and focus on excelling in school. That will help me in my study of mechanical engineering." Engineering was a natural choice for him.

Andrea Jenkins divided her time between two high schools, taking accelerated math and science courses at one, the remaining curriculum at the other. For the past two summers, she worked for an engineering and architectural consulting firm, where she did drafting with the aid of the computer program AutoCAD.

Along with William Fung, Jessica Moran and Jo Young, Andrea was awarded the Clarke Scholarship through a rigorous application process, as part of the ASME-supported and student-run Engineering Perspectives Conference at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

Charles Reinholtz, an ASME member and a professor of mechanical engineering, said, "The Clarke Scholarship is a wonderful encouragement to our current students and a great incentive to aspiring high school students." The department will leverage the scholarship with matching funds for students who declare mechanical engineering their major at the end of the freshman year.

The Clarke Scholarship endowment is held equally by the ASME Auxiliary and ASME Foundation, which, along with the Board on Engineering Education, administers the scholarship process. The fund was established by bequests from Lucille Clarke, who had been an ASME Auxiliary member, in memory of her parents, Lucy Clarke and Charles W.E. Clarke, who was a distinguished engineer and long-time ASME member.

In the next round of Clarke Scholarships, open to students who will be incoming freshmen in 2002, six schools will receive a $6,000 Clarke Scholarship. Applications, which are due Oct. 19, have been sent to all eligible colleges and universities.

For more information or an application, please contact David J. Soukup, director of development, at the ASME Foundation at (212) 591-7397 or by e-mail at soukupd@asme.org.

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