The AGMA Foundation Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2019 Scholarship Awards. Each fall, the Foundation awards $5,000 scholarships at the Undergraduate/Graduate levels, and $2,500 scholarships at the Associate/Technical school levels. Applicants with work experience in the gear or power transmission industry receive preference for scholarship awards.

This year marks the largest number of scholarship awards, and the first scholarship award from the Linda and Bipin Doshi Scholarship Endowment. The Doshi’s, formerly of Schafer Industries, established a $100,000 scholarship endowment in April 2018 to fund a scholarship for a top applicant. The first Doshi Scholarship Award winner is Liza Russell, a mechanical engineering major at Purdue University.

The 2019 AGMA Foundation Scholarship Recipients with their schools and company affiliations are:

Undergraduate
•Michael Ustes, University of Michigan Dearborn, Co-Op at ZF, Intern at Hitachi
•Liza Russell, Purdue University, intern at Allison Transmission, Doshi Scholarship Award Winner
•Mitch McDermaid, Western Michigan University, Co-Op at Eaton Corporation
•Alexander Minton, University of Cincinnati, Co-Op at Cincinnati Gearing Systems
•Rob McEwan, The Ohio State University, intern at Honda, and researcher at OSU Gear Lab
•Jacob Ridenour, Western Michigan University, Co-Op at Eaton Corporation
•Nicholas Wever, Kettering University, Co-Op at General Motors

Graduate Scholarship Recipients

•Abolfazi Hossienpour, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte, Teaching Assistant
•Bahadir Sarkiaya, Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell, former employment at Aselan Electronics
•Michael Peterson, West Texas A&M, currently employed at Amarillo Gear
•Darren Promer, Western Michigan University, intern at Eckhart Inc.

The 11 scholarship recipients were chosen by the AGMA Foundation Board of Trustees from a field of 20 applicants.  

“In 2018, the Foundation received its first endowed scholarship from Linda and Bipin Doshi,” said Cindy Bennett, AGMA Foundation Executive Director. “The proceeds from this endowment, and donations from AGMA member companies and generous industry individuals, are the sole source of funding for the scholarship program. The scholarship awards fulfill the Foundation’s mission to recruit, educate, and keep the power transmission industry current with emerging technology. This program has a great track record, as 86% of graduated scholarship recipients are currently working in our industry.”