In October 2011, the IEEE Power & Energy Society announced the inaugural IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative™ award recipients. Ninety-three (93) PES Scholarship recipients have been selected from 51 U.S. universities for the 2011-12 Academic year. These scholarships are being distributed through the IEEE Power & Energy Scholarship Fund which is being used to support the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative.

The IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative provides multi-year scholarships and career experience opportunities to qualifying U.S. electrical engineering undergraduate students. As long as the scholar continues to meet renewal standards, he or she will receive up to three years of funding — $2,000 the first year, $2,000 the second year and $3,000 the third year — interspersed with up to two much-valued career experiences.

These undergraduate students were selected by industry and academic representatives based primarily upon: academic preparation; extra-curricular activities and leadership; interest in engineering in general, and power and energy engineering in particular; and overall assessment of student's potential for a successful power and energy engineering career.

Six regional committees were formed to review and select the PES Scholarship Plus Scholars in the US by the 6 IEEE defined Regions, and to consult on the program's implementation. There are approximately 100 volunteers supporting the program through the regional and other committees!

21 (22%) of 93 award recipients are female; the number of females is noteworthy as it is a significant proportion relative to the portion in Electrical Engineering programs. This proportion is estimated as roughly twice the typical enrollment of females in EE thus encouraging and supporting greater future enrollments.

Preparations for the second year of the program are underway. Discussions are being held with prospective donors regarding employment recruitment and career promotion strategies, and requesting financial support for the PES Scholarship Plus Initiative. The next scholarship application period will be 1 March through 30 June 2012.

2011 Program Highlights:

• Over $2.4M has been committed from 33 industry/individuals and proposals are pending for an additional $4.1 million toward an overall goal of $10 million in 2 years.
• $186,000 was distributed to 51 universities with commitments for the 93 PES Scholars totaling $388,000 over 3 years.
• The web site was launched on 4 April 2011 and more than 150 students from 107 different U.S. universities participated in the application process for a scholarship. The main Scholarship Plus program web site is http://ee-scholarship.org
• PES Careers - Internship and Career Experience opportunities are being pledged by potential employers and posted on PES-Careers.org where PES Scholars specially recognized. This website connects employers and students for career experiences and is free for their use. Over 800 students and 220 companies are registered with PES Careers. The PES Careers web site is http://www.ieee-pes.org/workforce/pes-careers
• Ongoing mentorship support will be provided through local IEEE PES Chapter activities, local industry partnership and professionals, and collaboration with academic leadership. Interested Mentors can join the program at https://www.myinterfase.com/ieee-pes/mentor/
• A detailed scholarship program implementation plan has been developed and used for the inaugural scholar selection process.
• A PES Scholarship Plus Program Director, Dan Toland, joined the team in September 2011.
• A web-based survey has been created for the Power and Energy Education Committee (PEEC) to use for their annual resource survey which is used by scholarship applicants and region committees to evaluate programs. The survey web site is http://www.ee-scholarship.org/peec-survey/login

Sign up to be a mentor today:

https://www.myinterfase.com/ieee-pes/mentor/

Here are some of the things mentors will do:

• Attach a personal voice/face to IEEE PES
• Inform them about the excitement of being a power and energy engineer in today's world
• Answer questions that the student may have about careers
• Advise students on how to obtain career experience such as an internship, co-op, or research
• Help students plan their job search strategy to obtain a job after graduation
• Talk with the student about the importance of a career experience
• Listen to the student talk about issues or concerns

A Call to Action for 2012 and beyond:

• Plans are currently underway to begin the 2012 cycle of the program. Application procedures are being examined to simplify the process in an attempt to attract more applicants. The application deadline will be 30 June 2012.
• Plans are currently underway to extend the program to include region 7 and eventually regions 8, 9, and 10. Issues of funding and region volunteers are being discussed and evaluated.
• A corps of mentors is being developed to provide guidance to the 2011 class of scholars. Mentors can sign up for this opportunity at https://www.myinterfase.com/ieee-pes/mentor/
• Support from industry is being sought in the form of financial contributions and in providing summer internships and coops for the scholarship winners. Contact Michael Deering of the IEEE Foundation to discuss these opportunities at m.deering@ieee.org

Sign up to support the Scholarship Plus Initiative today:

Contact Michael Deering at m.deering@ieee.org