Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State is partnering with the U.S. Air Force to provide scholarships for incoming freshmen in the university's electrical and computer engineering department.
Through the Air Force Scientist and Engineer Career Program, Florida-based Eglin Air Force Base is providing $5,000 in scholarship money. The MSU department will add $1,000 to the amount to provide $2,000 per year in scholarships over three years.
Scholarships will be awarded annually to two incoming freshmen--one electrical engineering major and one computer engineering major. The scholarships will provide $500 per recipient for each of the fall and spring semesters.
"We are grateful to Bill McBroom at Eglin Air Force Base for his support in encouraging the interest of students in math and science, and particularly in electrical and computer engineering," said MSU professor and department head Jim Harden.
McBroom, director of Eglin's design and development division, said the U.S. Air Force has a continuing need to recruit bright young civilian scientists and engineers.
"We work closely with universities to identify how the funds are best used to help the university and, at the same time, meet our needs," he said. "We agreed with Dr. Harden that this $5,000 would be best used to fund scholarships to encourage the brightest high school students to pursue careers in engineering."
The electrical and computer engineering department is a part of MSU's James W. Bagley College of Engineering.
For more information on the awards, contact Harden at (662) 325-3912 or harden@ece.msstate.edu.