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Foundations of the Future: 2021 Scholarships and Awards Overview

Recognizing excellence is always an honor and the words of Mario Andretti come to mind: “Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal—a commitment to excellence—that will enable you to attain the success you seek.” If you are not proactive in the pursuit of your personal goals, putting in the hard work, and actually taking the time to apply for a scholarship, nobody will be able to recognize you for what you have accomplished. Being recognized in turn acts as its own driver, motivating you to become a better version of yourself and to work harder.

One of the programs of the IPC Education Foundation is proud of is the IPC Scholarships and Awards program. 2021 was a wonderful year in which students excelled deserving students and teachers were recognized for their commitment to the electronics manufacturing industry. A total of $38,000 were awarded.

Congratulations Student Member Scholarship Winners
In 2021, $27,000 was awarded to IPC Student Members for their accomplishments at the following IPC Student Chapters: Auburn University, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Gwinnett Technical College, Kirkwood Community College, Lehigh University, Michigan Technological University, NC State University, Purdue University, Texas Tech University, Triton College, University of California, Irvine, University of Maryland, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, University of New Orleans, University of North Texas, University of Utah, and Valparaiso University. The IPC Student Member Scholarship winners each receive $1,000, designed not only to reduce the financial burden, but also to encourage students to enhance their knowledge and skills of real-word industry-related experiences.       

Hannah Nelson, chapter president at Valparaiso University, shared, "I am so incredible honored to have received the IPC Student Member Scholarship. I am currently pursuing a degree in electrical engineering and paying for college on my own, so this scholarship will help me alleviate my financial load. From decreasing my financial burden, I am now able to provide more time to expand the Valparaiso University IPC chapter. I have now been given more time to develop events to provide students with not only the opportunity to expand their technical expertise, but also their professional development skills."

Kunal Ahuja from the University of Maryland IPC Student Chapters, said, “I express my sincere gratitude to the IPC organization for the scholarship. This scholarship will motivate me to further my current research interests in electronics reliability and achieve my future career goals in this field. I will utilize these funds to obtain certified courses helpful for both my research and career."

Sandro Figueroa, IPC student chapter president at Gwinnett Technical College, expressed his gratitude by sharing, "I would like to sincerely thank IPC for everything they have provided me and every student. Since I joined Gwinnett Technical College's IPC student chapter, I have been provided with the absolute best resources and opportunities. All the possible benefits are truly unbelievable. This scholarship means that I won't have to work so many extra hours to pay for my education. I can instead use those hours to spend learning about certain electronics topics, work on personal experiments, and spend more time with my family. My fund will be used for purchasing books, lab equipment, tuition, and gas money for my drive to work and class. Being now the only person financing my studies, I cherish this scholarship tremendously. Thank you, IPC!"

To learn more about the other scholarship winners and their personal statements, click here.

Recognizing Student Leaders
In 2021, $6,000 was awarded to recognize student leadership capabilities, the impact they had while serving, and ability to plan and/or host successful engagement initiatives for chapter members. Congratulations to the deserving winners:

• Brenda Sanchez from Triton College
• Junyang Zhang from the University of California, Irvine
• Palash Vyas from Auburn University
• Riley Graudin from NC State University
• Sandro Figueroa from Gwinnett Technical College
• Mohamed el amine Belhadi from Auburn University

To see each winner’s personal statement, please click here.

Recognizing Top Educators
In 2021, $2,000 was awarded to two educators who serve the industry in their respective academic institutions. The IPC Education Foundation has established the “Michael V. Carano Teacher Excellence Award” to support the professional development for secondary and post-secondary educators pursuing training related to the electronics industry. Educators are nominated by students and the 2021 awards went to: 

Joel Tomlinson is a lecturer/laboratory manager with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Technology at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He shared the following of what this award means to him: “Being awarded the Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award will be a great honor for me because it will reinforce my commitment to teaching and preparing the next generation of electrical/electronic technicians, technologist, and engineers. I appreciate the support and dedication of the IPC Education Foundation’s commitment to assisting educators and students in industry readiness in the field of electronics manufacturing.”

Andrea Blaylock is a full-time tenured professor at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois, where she has been the faculty advisor for IPC Student Chapter for the past two years. During her nearly 10 years of experience, she has been teaching in the Engineering Technology Department. Prior to Triton College, she spent nine years in the industrial power systems and electrical distribution and controls industries, working for General Electric and Bosch-Rexroth/Indramat Division, respectively, as an area account manager, outside and inside sales engineer.

She shared the following with us: “It is an honor and privilege to be recognized as a candidate for IPC Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award. As the IPC student faculty advisor, I consider myself privileged to have been nominated for such a distinguished honor by one of my students. The majority of my experience has been in industrial power systems, electrical distribution, and controls, as well as residential and commercial building applications with small to medium scale power distribution, generation, and use. I've largely focused on teaching electricity/electronics, robotics, and programmable logic controllers since joining Triton College, engineering technology as the lead Mechatronics program instructor. Success cannot be attained on one's own; it can only be attained with the assistance and support of peers. Without the help of several people, I would not be where I am now. It takes a village to achieve success. This award is a chance for me to express gratitude and appreciate all of those who have helped me get to where I am now. In addition, the IPC Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award funding will allow me to further my professional development so that I can better serve students by assisting them in achieving their goals in the field of electronics and automation. Thank you for recognizing me with the IPC Michael Carano Teacher Excellence Award.”

Design Competition in Partnership with Upverter Education, a division of Altium, and Arduino
#PCBeTheChange was the theme of an International Design Competition through the IPC Education Foundation, Upverter Education, a division of Altium, and Arduino, which launched a partnership in 2021. It was the first student design competition to engage, educate, and enhance students’ proficiencies in PCB design, with a focus on solving some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges and the IPC Education Foundation contributed $3,000 to the winning teams awards. 

It is an honor to make a difference in deserving individuals lives and the IPC Education Foundation is set to continue rewarding students and teachers in 2022.

Charlene?Gunter du Plessis is the senior director of the IPC Education Foundation.