Whelen Engineering Endows Scholarship at UNH
Fund provides four annual awards in engineering and high-tech fields
 
By Bob Emro, CEPS

Whelen Engineering Company has endowed a scholarship that will fund four annual awards in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS), the University of New Hampshire announced today.
 
A manufacturer of lighting and warning safety devices, Whelen Engineering has facilities in Charlestown, N.H. and Chester, Conn. “We are proud to be able to create a scholarship to encourage people to go into the engineering profession,” said Whelen President John F. Olson, a 1957 graduate of CEPS’ mechanical engineering program. “That’s the whole motivation behind it.”
 
The gift is expected to provide awards of several thousand dollars each for one first-year, sophomore, junior and senior student each year. Students in computer science and electrical, computer and mechanical engineering will be eligible, as well as other CEPS students with a strong interest in robotics engineering and high-technology careers.
 
“Because Whelen Engineering Company is a leader in manufacturing, innovation and design,” said UNH President Ann Weaver Hart, “we believe a gift of this nature serves as a powerful example and motivator for other companies and individuals to invest in public higher education and in the training of our high-technology workforce here in New England.”
 
“Named scholarships have proven successful in encouraging top students to enroll in academic programs at UNH,” said CEPS Dean Joe Klewicki. “The Whelen Engineering Scholarship Fund will help us better attract the very best science and engineering students who, working side-by-side with world-class researchers, can reach their highest potential at UNH.”
 
Whelen Engineering—whose products include police warning lights—and CEPS have a history of collaboration and exchange through the Consolidated Advanced Technologies Laboratory’s (CATLab) Project 54—which gives police voice-activated control of a cruiser’s electronics. The CATLab team consists of approximately 35 faculty members, engineers, technicians, graduate and undergraduate students from the college’s Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, as well as members of law enforcement.
 
Gifts designated as endowed funds provide a permanent source of income for University of New Hampshire programs, professorships and scholarships.  These gifts are invested by the UNH Foundation, and a portion of the interest earned each year is used to support a specified purpose in keeping with the donor’s interests and philanthropic intent.  Any additional income, after modest investment and administrative fees, is reinvested in the fund for future growth, ensuring the fund keeps pace with inflation and continues to provide adequate funding in years to come.