Scholarships impact student success, make a difference

POSTED ON Mar 21, 2023

Thanks to the Eva Stevenson Woods Endowed Presidential Scholarship, Catherine Dominic can focus on her studies in aerospace engineering. However, Catherine’s interest in global affairs led her to work on the Syrian Medical Delivery System within the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.

According to UT Austin, this project explored the feasibility of using drones to deliver medical goods to hospitals in war-torn Syria. During the project, Catherine had a personal revelation about the connection between engineering and social impact — an intersection that will help her make a difference in the world.

“My professors have encouraged me not to stick with only one interest,” Catherine told UT Austin. “Being a student is the perfect time to explore, and UT does an amazing job of not letting you pigeonhole yourself…It’s our responsibility as engineers to ensure we are not just developing solutions and imposing them on a community or society,” Catherine explains. “It’s important to explore the impact and likely consequences these solutions might have.”

Click here and listen to Catherine talk about her contributions.

Arjun Menta told UT Austin that he is sure that strong scholarship support for talented students is critical to the university’s success.

“When you give enough people the opportunity to succeed, you surpass the potential threshold,” he said. “Moreover, this support empowers cross-disciplinary work among world-changing students; it means that even better things and people come out of UT.”

Arjun credits his success to scholarships like the Eva Stevenson Woods Endowed Presidential Scholarship. “My scholarships gave me the safety and confidence to take risks and ultimately earn some wins,” he told UT Austin.

Arjun founded a farming analytics and automation platform and portable cooling technology to aid global vaccine transportation. He also co-founded UT’s chapter of e-NABLE, a student organization that uses 3D-printing resources to make individualized prosthetics for people with amputations.

“Time is always the most valuable commodity,” he said. “Without my scholarships, I would’ve been working through college. This support has afforded me the privilege of autonomy and much room to explore.”