New Endowments and Donations Help Mechanical Engineering Students

The Department of Mechanical Engineering in the A.J. Clark School of Engineering is pleased to announce the establishment of The Aris and Marianne Mardirossian Endowed Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering. The purpose of the endowment is to provide annual scholarships to mechanical engineering students.

The donation of $150,000 from Aris Mardirossian is one of several scholarships available to students in the Clark School and ME department thanks to the generosity of alumni and faculty. Other recent gifts include The Professor Boris L. Krayterman Memorial Scholarship Endowment for mechanical engineering students, and The Ruth and Sam Salzberg Family Endowment for ME students with the intention of working in the construction field.

Last year, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chair of Aerospace Engineering William Fourney donated $30,000 to endow a scholarship fund for students who transfer into the Clark School to study mechanical or aerospace engineering. The Fourney Scholarship Endowment will provide at least two, $1,000 scholarships each year.

“I want to give back to the education system because of all I have received from it," states Fourney. He has been a faculty member in either the mechanical or aerospace engineering departments for 39 years and chaired the mechanical engineering department for nine years before becoming chair of the aerospace engineering department 11 years ago.

"Maryland's a great place ... a school that's on the move," Fourney says. He praises the university's "can–do" attitude; Maryland, he explains, is "creative at getting things accomplished, often with very little resources." It attracts and retains the best faculty, according to Fourney, because it is committed to helping its faculty be successful, rather than fostering a "survival-of-the-fittest" atmosphere. "The attitude at Maryland is more positive than at any university I've ever been involved with," he says.

Over 150 scholarships were given to students in the Clark School for the Spring 2006 semester. The on-line scholarship application for Fall 2006 prospective freshmen is now available. The priority deadline is March 1, 2006. Scholarship awards are typically announced by early April.

In addition to supporting mechanical engineering students, donors can invest in faculty research, laboratories and initiatives. For more information on how you can help the mechanical engineering department and Clark School, please visit:

http://www.eng.umd.edu/giving/index.html

Published January 15, 2006