The SME Pittsburgh Section would like to extend their congratulations to Penn State mining engineering students Drew Mason, Mark Rotz, and Robert Burns and WVU student Charles Ndhlovu who received scholarships from The Gimme Foundation, Inc.  The Gimme Foundation scholarship initiative is designed to help offset the high costs of education and to bolster the mining engineering profession.  Requirements for the scholarship include a demonstrated financial need, good class standing, a recommendation from a Professor or Supervisor in a related field of study and a 500 word essay that describes the student’s career goals. The SME Pittsburgh Section helped the Gimme Foundation to facilitate the scholarship selection process.  Dr. R. Larry Grayson, Undergraduate Program Officer in Mining Engineering, Department of Energy & Mineral Engineering at Penn State and Dr. Christopher J. Bise, Chair of Mining Engineering, C. T. Holland Distinguished Professor, College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at WVU provided oversight and assistance to the scholarship recipients. 

The Spring 2010 scholarships were presented to recipients on December 8-9, 2009 at WVU and Penn State by James J. Bryja, President of The Gimme Foundation, Inc. and Senior Vice President, NAPP & PRB, Alpha Natural Resources (see photo).  This is the second round of scholarships since May 2008 and the Gimme Foundation intends to award additional scholarships on an annual basis. Scholarship application forms and instructions will be forwarded to the mining engineering schools at both universities.