Number of Scholarships for Engineering Students Soars

During 2024, the ACEC Research Institute’s scholarship program grew from 12 scholarships totaling $85,500 in 2023 to 97 scholarships totaling nearly $700,000 in 2024. The new scholarship platform, AwardSpring, allowed the Institute to engage with over 4,100 students versus 169 students in 2023. The new partnerships include the following:

The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying awarded one $5,000 scholarship in each state and the District of Columbia.

IMEG awarded $10,000 scholarships to 33 students nationwide.

Morrissey Goodale provided two $15,000 scholarships to students from groups that are underrepresented in the field of engineering.

POWER Engineers awarded two $5,000 diversity scholarships.

These new award opportunities were in addition to the 12 scholarships previously awarded by the Institute. When interest in the scholarships increased, the Institute launched a new platform to streamline the application process. Through this new process, engineering students are now automatically matched with opportunities based on their eligibility. The result: This year, more than 4,100 students across the country were presented with a suite of financial resources that are potentially available to them. Those 4,100 students represent the next generation of engineers.

One such future engineer is the University of Tennessee’s Deidra Anderson, who was selected as the ACEC College of Fellows Scholar of the Year. Accepting the award, the structural engineering graduate student noted that the $13,000 grant will lessen the financial burden of continuing her education. “It is with great pride that I accept this scholarship as a way to boost my confidence in the financial aspect of my life,” she said. “I feel a great sense of motivation, validation, and as though all my hard work has paid off.”

That’s the impetus behind the scholarship program—to help lower some of the financial barriers to pursuing a career in engineering. The continued success of the industry will depend on our ability to attract talented young people to the engineering field. Simply put: These scholarships are an investment in the future.

Ask engineering firm leaders for their sentiments on the state of the engineering economy and you’ll find that for the most part, optimism abounds—blue skies as far as the eye can see, with one caveat: the workforce shortage. In many ways, the engineering industry has become a victim of its own success: more work than it can handle with not enough qualified workers.

This shortage of engineers has implications beyond the industry’s bottom line, further highlighting the importance of the scholarship program. “Engineering is at the heart of solving many of today’s most pressing challenges,” said ACEC Research Institute Chair Mike Carragher. “These scholarships will help ensure that we have a robust pipeline of skilled engineers ready to tackle the complex issues of tomorrow.”

Scholarship winners will be recognized during ACEC’s Fall Conference on October 20-23 in New Orleans.