Three AAE students receive OPP scholarships
Three AAE students were scholarship recipients by the Office of Professional Practice, each receiving a $1,000 scholarship.
Ryan Murphy received the ExxonMobil Scholarship; Sarah Palmer was a recipient of the William & Linda Nelson Cooperative Education Scholarship; and Sarah Scoggin received the Leonard Wood Co-Op Scholarship.
Murphy, a junior in AAE, has a five-rotation Co-Op with the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. The ExxonMobil Scholarship is the result of a new opportunity called the “Office of Professional Practice Employer Scholarship Fund,” made available to Co-Op employers in response to help raise company brand awareness and directly impact the students they recruit. In line with that, ExxonMobil has sponsored four scholarships since 2018.
Murphy, one of two recipients awarded in the spring, has worked in the structural testing facility during his Co-Op with Gulfstream Aerospace. He’s currently working with the Acoustics and Vibrations department.
“Receiving this scholarship really means a lot to me because it confirms my belief that the Co-Op program has enriched my academic and professional career well past my expectations,” Murphy said.
Scoggin, a senior in AAE who will graduate in May, has completed five Co-Op rotations with GE Aviation. As a co-op with GE Aviation, she worked in customer support, manufacturing, testing, design, and environmental, health and safety (EHS). She spent three rotations working on GE Aviation’s newest large commercial engine, the GE9X. The GE9X is the world’s largest jet engine and is as wide as the body of a Boeing 737.
Scoggin said the scholarship relieved the financial burden of finishing school — she used it to pay for part of her final semester. She’ll move to Cincinnati after graduation and enter GE Aviation’s Edison Engineering Development Program where she will learn leadership and technical skills while completing a master’s degree in aerospace engineering.
The Wood Scholarship, established in 2007, is in memory of the late Leonard E. Wood, who received a Ph.D. from Purdue in 1956. He joined faculty as a professor in Civil Engineering and became the School’s faculty coordinator for Purdue’s Cooperative Education Program in 1989. The scholarship fund exists thanks to Wood’s widow Margaret, who sought to honor his dedication to the Co-Op program while enabling the achievement of current Co-Op students.
Palmer has a five-session Co-Op with Honeywell Aerospace. The Nelson Scholarship was established in 2017, through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, who are loyal supporters of the Co-Op program.