Partners for Education & Business, Inc. (PEB), an affiliate of the Manufacturers Association (MACNY), today announced the 2020 CNY STEM Scholarship recipients. 

For the first time in the history of the program, eight of the nine recipients are women, and four of the nine recipients are from the same high school. These winners represent the best and brightest in STEM in Central New York from the hundreds of applications submitted from high school seniors in seven surrounding counties.  

SRC awarded three scholarships, valued at $20,000 each over four years, to three students, who are all from C.W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville. Elyssa Adams will be headed to Northeastern University, majoring in computer science; Allison Harry has been accepted into the computer science program at RPI; and Breanna Murdock will be attending SUNY at Buffalo to major in electrical engineering. These three accomplished young women were selected from more than 50 applications in the computer and engineering majors.  

TTM Technologies, Inc. (formerly known as Anaren) awarded two scholarships, valued at $8,000 each over four years, to two local students. Mary Buckingham, from Camden High School, will be majoring in mechanical engineering at Alfred State, and Daniel De Himer from Rome Free Academy will be attending Florida Institute of Technology to study electrical engineering.

Inficon awarded one scholarship, valued at $4,000 over four years, to Sarah Crovella from Fayetteville-Manlius High School.  She is headed to Columbia University and will be majoring in mechanical engineering.

King & King awarded one scholarship, valued at $8,000 over four years, to Rachel Ragonese from C.W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville. Rachel, the fourth student to receive a scholarship from Baldwinsville, will study architecture and planning at the University at Buffalo.

Loretto awarded two scholarships for students majoring in nursing to Jade Dillenbeck from Tully High School and to Andrea Sumida from Jamesville-Dewitt High School. These students will receive $2,500 per year for four years.  

The CNY STEM Scholarship Program, administered by PEB and the CNY STEM Hub, launched seven years ago to support high school seniors who plan to pursue a college degree in a field related to STEM. Local employers offer the scholarships to students majoring in areas that they recruit to fill open positions, and they agree to offer these students a paid internship in addition to the scholarship. 

Marianne Ferris, associate director at PEB, and Coordinator of the CNY STEM Scholarship Program, reports that “given the caliber of students in this year’s pool of applicants, the decisions to select the scholarship recipients are extremely difficult. There has been an increase of girls entering STEM career pathways largely due to the schools’ increase in STEM-related activities. Females are starting to help each other as one of the recipients started the first all girls robotics team, encouraging other girls to join.”

Since the inception of the CNY STEM Scholarship Program, local employers have awarded 54 scholarships valued at a total of $594,000. Some of those original scholarship recipients are now working at the companies that sponsored their education.