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Foundations of the Future: Investing in Students Through Scholarships and Awards

Investment in students’ academic and career pursuits are part of building a talent pipeline, and the IPC Education Foundation aims to distribute close to $75,000 in scholarships and awards in 2023. The value of a scholarship is more than just the ability to cover short-term tuition. A scholarship affords students the opportunity to pursue long-term goals: delivering a return on the initial investment that will benefit students, their families, and the broader community for years to come. A college education is increasingly crucial.

The applications for these IPCEF opportunities are currently open and we’ve been receiving many excellent applications already. These following scholarship and award opportunities are offered:

IPC Student Travel Grants
IPC Student Travel Grants are a new addition and will be awarded to students who are finalists in the IPC APEX EXPO Poster Session/Technical Paper, which will enable them to travel to Anaheim, California between April 6-11, 2024, and attend the conference in-person and present their work. This opportunity opens a variety of personal development opportunities, networking with industry representatives, and participating in knowledge share programming. We also aim to contribute to the IPC Poster Session/Technical Paper Awards and Scholarships. More information will be available soon.

IPC Student Membership Scholarship
Since 2019, students studying toward a discipline related to electronics manufacturing and who form part of the IPC student network can apply for an IPC Student Membership Scholarship. The purpose of the IPC Student Member Scholarship is to identify and encourage talented and focused IPC Student Chapter Members to pursue careers in the electronics industry. Each applicant needs to showcase the contributions to the industry and why they should be a worthy recipient of this scholarship. This scholarship has been 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.

We often receive messages from students who express their gratitude for the scholarships, which solidifies the importance of recognizing excellence and supporting their journeys. Here is one example from Junyang Zhang:

"As the co-founder and the current president of IPC@UCI, I am receiving double the amount of money for this scholarship. In the past three years of my term of service, IPC@UCI has grown from a small club of five members to a club of around 100 members, and we successfully held a number of workshops, webinars, and activities at UCI. For me, personally, this award is a great recognition of all our previous work and a strong motivation for holding better events in the future. As an international student, I would say IPCEF is one of the most inclusive platforms for all people to learn and build electronics, since most other scholarships in the EE industry aren't even open for us. We sincerely hope more and more students could appreciate the glamour of electronics through the door opened by IPCEF!"

Junyang is just one of the many recipients. To learn more about past winners, please click here.

IPC Student Chapter Leaders
Recognizing students serving in a leadership position at their local IPC Student Chapter is another avenue to ensure student develop their non-technical abilities and skills. The purpose of these awards is to recognize a student's leadership capabilities, the impact they had while serving, and ability to plan and/or host successful engagement initiatives for its chapter members. To learn more about past winners, please click here.

It is also important to recognize educators who positively impact students and an industry ambassador on campus. These scholarships support professional and technical development. Scholarship funds can be used toward costs associated with industry-related online courses, seminars, workshops or conferences, and other educational enrichment purposes, as needed and approved by the IPC Education Foundation. To learn more about past winners, please click here.

IPCEF Emerging Engineer Program
Another investment through IPCEF allows four students to participate in the IPC Emerging Engineer Program for a one-year term and attend IPC APEX EXPO annually. The students are paired with a mentor to gain a better understanding of various career paths, career opportunities, and professional insights. For more information, please click here.

One of the Emerging Engineer participants is selected as IPC Student Board Member. We are currently accepting applications for the student member to serve in this role for the 2024 term. To learn more about this position, please watch the interview with Henry Crandall, current IPC Student Board Member.

IPC APEX EXPO STEM Outreach
Earlier this year, we held the IPC APEX EXPO STEM Outreach event and awarded each participating high school each with $1,000 to ensure that STEM-related activities can continue beyond this event and into the classroom. To read the recap of this event, click here.

IPC Student Member
Any college student currently enrolled at a recognized academic institution and pursuing a degree or qualification relating to the electronics manufacturing industry can become an IPC Student Member. The investment you make as a student by paying $40 to become an IPC Student Member has endless possibilities and a wide range of member benefits. Some of the benefits include the scholarships and awards, leadership positions, networking, and professional development opportunities. We look forward to reviewing the applications and invest in the future talent of the industry by the end of the year.

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