UltiMaker announced a new scholarship for STEM students.
The new “MakerBot Scholarship” is intended to relieve some of the financial barriers facing students pursuing engineering careers. UltiMaker explains:
“The scholarship aims to empower students from underrepresented, low-income communities to pursue degrees in industrial engineering, manufacturing, or additive manufacturing by providing financial support for higher education.”
This scholarship is part of UltiMaker’s larger “give back” program, announced a few weeks ago. That program allocates some US$500K toward supporting STEM activity.
UltiMaker partnered with the SME Education Foundation on the scholarship, which has closely aligned goals. That foundation offers scholarships totalling almost US$1M per year to graduating high school students and college-level students.
It seems that UltiMaker will invest with the foundation, which presumably manages the scholarship details. The foundation’s goal is to provide scholarships by need and by topic area. Apparently, it’s awarded 5,000 students US$18M in the past twenty years.
The MakerBot Scholarship will involve an award of US$20,000, to be provided to the student over four years — US$5,000 per year. That should be quite welcome for students that often have financial challenges when gaining their education.
This is a terrific step by UltiMaker, and one that helps support their role in the education market for their MakerBot line of 3D printers.
Is it time for other 3D printer manufacturers to also provide scholarships? It seems like a straightforward step to do so, and everyone would benefit from the results.
Via UltiMaker
