ASME Sponsored Engineering Scholarships

Many organizations in the US provide engineering scholarships. One of these is the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). It provides basically two different engineering scholarships. These include the Lucy & Charles W. E. Clarke Scholarship and the Rice-Cullimore Scholarship.

Lucy and Charles W.E. Clarke Scholarship: This scholarship was instituted in memory of late Lucy and Charles W. E. Clarke. The latter was a distinguished engineer and ASME member.

The requirements for this scholarship are as follows.

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology must accredit mechanical engineering or mechanical engineering technology departments which support ASME activities. These departments will then identify the individual incoming freshmen. These freshmen, who must be US citizens, will then be eligible to receive the scholarship. Current students of an institution or university are not eligible for the scholarship.

Further, an institution, whose freshmen have received the Clarke Scholarship for three consecutive years, will be again eligible for consideration after elapse of a year.

The application on behalf of the entering freshman must be made by the ASME Student Section. Prior to this, it must have been endorsed by the head of the mechanical engineering or mechanical engineering technology department of the institution. The Clarke Selection Committee will then select the award winning schools.

Although the suggested criteria are need, activities, and performance of the incoming freshmen, the department head will have discretionary authority to select the recipients of the scholarships. The head will need to notify the Clarke Selection Committee the names of the scholarship winners and the amounts awarded.

The departmental head of an institution has full discretionary authority as to the amount that can be awarded to each recipient, subject to a cap decided by the Clarke Selection Committee. The cap may vary from year to year.

Rice-Cullimore Scholarship: This scholarship is provided to a non-US foreign student under the Fulbright program. It is for covering expenses towards one-year maintenance while undergoing graduation for a Doctoral or Master's Degree in mechanical engineering in the US.

Application Forms for the scholarship are available at The Institute of International Education (IIE) Office or the Education Office at the US Embassy in the home country of the foreign student. Filled in applications are also to be submitted there. IIE will send a copy of the filled-in application form to the Rice-Cullimore Scholarship Committee.

Besides these engineering scholarships, ASME also provides various engineering scholarships for undergraduate students. These include the Berna Lou Cartwright Scholarship ($2,000), the Sylvia W. Farny Scholarship ($2,000), the Allen J. Baldwin Scholarship ($2,000), the Agnes Malakate Kezios ($2,000), and the Charles B. Scharp Scholarship ($2,000).

These five different scholarships are provided to undergraduate students for use in the final year. A 4-year graduate course student needs to apply for the scholarship in junior year. A 5-year graduate course student needs to apply for the scholarship in the fourth year.

Besides these engineering scholarships, ASME also sponsors low-interest student loans and auxiliary loans for deserving and needy students.