Receiving an SME Education Foundation Family Scholarship in 2018 meant a lot to Emily Redekopp, a mechanical engineering student who’s in her junior year at South Dakota State University. Engineering is in Redekopp’s family — her father is a mechanical engineer. But she has also always had a great interest in STEM subjects, which led her to participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition as a high school student.
Scholarship Success Stories | SMEEF All Scholarship Stories
Horlick High School, part of the Racine Unified School District, has partnered with the SME Education Foundation to make manufacturing and engineering education and career opportunities available for students via the Foundation’s Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education (PRIME) schools initiative.
The SME Education Foundation is partnering with content provider Edge Factor to make available STEM and career education materials to new SME PRIME Schools across North America in 2021.
Eligible students include high school seniors, undergraduates and graduate students pursuing degrees in advanced manufacturing/technology and related engineering fields at two and four-year colleges.
Anna Hiszpanski has made a name for herself as a research scientist in the materials science division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, but she’s never forgotten the help she got along the way — including the SME Education Foundation Family Scholarship, which she used for her undergraduate studies at Caltech.
Industry knows that the current — and looming larger, the future — lack of skilled and prepared employees is severe. This skills gap could lead to a shortage of as many as 2.4 million manufacturing workers in the next decade. Our challenge remains the same, and our education and industry partners share that challenge: How can we attract, interest — and then inspire young people to explore the opportunities being offered?
Diversity in Action magazine featured the SME Education Foundation’s efforts to reach more students from underrepresented groups and provide them with opportunities to pursue careers in the manufacturing industry.
