OESA affiliate member SAE Detroit Section has worked with Focus: HOPE to establish the SAE Detroit Section Eleanor Josaitis CAT Scholarship Fund that will help provide college scholarship money to qualified students involved in Focus: HOPE’s Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT) program.  The fund will support students earn their four-year engineering degree and will forever honor Focus: HOPE co-founder Eleanor Josaitis who passed away in August.

CAT is a unique program that allows students to study engineering at local universities and gain hands-on experience by working on government research and development projects at Focus: HOPE or through internships with area businesses.  Scholarships will be administered by Focus: Hope and be made available as part of the CAT program. 

Currently, CAT students can apply for the college scholarships which serve as a reimbursement for the cost of their tuition.  These scholarships will meet a critical gap in student funding by supporting other associated costs and allow students the freedom from student loan burden following graduation.  The Section has made a five-year commitment of $50,000 per year to fund these scholarships.

“Such scholarships from the private sector give motivated, bright students, many of whom would be unable to afford college, the opportunity to realize their dreams and build successful careers in a skilled field,” said Focus: HOPE CEO William Jones, Jr.

“The first step to economic recovery is creating high-paying jobs and finding qualified candidates to fill those positions,” Jones said.  “The students who have graduated through our Center for Advanced Technologies just needed an opportunity.  Now they have the skills that make them employable in the high-tech automotive and manufacturing sectors.”

“Eleanor was a true friend of the SAE Detroit Section and our many educational programs.  Her sincere passion and dedication to using education as the key to social and economic betterment is an inspiration to us all,” reflected Charon Morgan, E2XX operations manager, global vehicle engineering, General Motors, and 2011 SAE Detroit Section Chair. 

On establishing the scholarship fund, Morgan stated, “Working with Focus: HOPE and its Center for Advanced Technologies to establish the SAE Detroit Section Eleanor Josaitis CAT Scholarship Fund will help narrow the engineering shortage in its own unique way by assisting Detroit-area students earn a four-year engineering degree at one of our leading universities.”

SAE International was founded by a small group of mobility-industry pioneers in 1905. The SAE Detroit Section was established in 1911 and is now one of SAE International’s largest Sections with more than 9,000 members from Southeastern Michigan and Northwestern Ohio, including metropolitan Detroit, Ann Arbor, Jackson and Toledo.  Additionally, individual members are active participants in educational programs for K-12 students, such as A World in Motion (AWIM).  For more information about the Detroit Section of SAE International, visit www.sae-detroit.org.  For more information about SAE International, please visit www.sae.org.  SAE Detroit Section has student chapters on eight college campuses across Michigan, giving students an opportunity to become active professionally, while studying their chosen engineering field.

 For more information, contact Dave Andrea at dandrea@oesa.org.