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SME Education Foundation Scholarships Scholarship Reviewer Inquiry

Become a Scholarship Reviewer

We’ve awarded $18 million in scholarships since 2005. That’s a lot of applications to review and our scholarship program depends on application reviewers like you! Help us help the next generation of manufacturing and engineering talent get off to a great start.

Scholarship Reviewer Opportunity

As an engineering professional or educator with a STEM background, you can pay it forward in a meaningful way with just a few hours of your time. It’s extremely rewarding and no experience is necessary. We can’t do it without your generous help!

We make it easy for you:

  • Streamlined process entirely online including training
  • Reviews are conducted February through March annually
  • Each application takes approximately 15 minutes to evaluate and score. The estimated total time commitment is two – three hours
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Learn About the Roles & Responsibilities of a Reviewer

What is my commitment as a Scholarship Reviewer? 

First, you will find the experience of participating in the scholarship review process very rewarding.  The level of accomplishment and education of most of the scholarship applicants is at an exceptional level, showing that the future of the manufacturing world will be in good hands as we move forward.  We believe that you will be inspired and find hope and commitment in reading through and evaluating these applications. Further information is provided in the cover letter you will receive.

All reviews for SME Education Foundation (SME-EF) scholarships are conducted online, so you need access to a computer that will handle keeping two screens open at one time – the application and the review scoring screen.   Instructions for doing this are in the detailed guidelines that will be distributed prior to the start of reviews.  While the reviews may be conducted with only the Reviewer Portal screen open, we have found it more convenient to keep two screens open. Therefore, iPads and phones are not recommended.

As a reviewer, you will be expected to do the following:

  1. Commit to complete all assigned reviews within the review schedule – this year from Monday, February 20th to Monday, March 13th.  This allows for over three weeks and three weekends to complete the process.  If you do not believe you can accomplish the reviews within this allocated time period, please do not volunteer. The result of someone not completing their reviews on time causes us to have to reassign the applications to others who have already completed their reviews.
    1. However, we do realize that sometimes unexpected events occur, so that if you do volunteer and find that things have changed, before or after the reviews are assigned, and you cannot complete all reviews, please notify us immediately so we can reassign the applications.
  2. Commit to complete the Reviewer training between January 23rd and February 3rd. This is required whether you are a returning or a first-time reviewer due to new enhancement to our scholarship application and the review process. All reviewers will be expected to complete a brief 90-minute training module late in January to acquaint you with the process and understand the scoring system. The intent is to offer feedback on how you score the applications to provide as uniform a scoring process as possible. Returning reviewers will be asked to score sample applications in late January to reacquaint themselves with the process and brush up on their scoring skills.
  3. Commit to review and follow the Reviewer Guidelines and Scoring Rubric that will be provided prior to start of reviews and are available online.  Even if you are a returning reviewer, please review these documents prior to start of reviews, changes have been made to the reviewer instructions this cycle. Please familiarize yourself with the content.
  4. Commit to inform SME-EF if you find any applicants you personally know or if you have any ties to the individual.
 

Thank you in advance for offering your expertise, time and talent to the scholarship review process. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you in this scholarship session.
 

Reviewers sign up has ended for the 2023 scholarship review cycle. We will be recruiting for the 2024 Scholarship cycle in the near future. The 2024 SME Education Foundation scholarship application will open November 1st, 2023.

For any questions about being a reviewer, please email us at foundation@sme.org.