Microsemi Corporation announced it is renewing its current €50,000 scholarship program for University of Limerick engineering students living in County Clare, where the company has its European headquarters in Ennis, Ireland. In addition, the company announced its new "Microsemi Women in Engineering" scholarship and first award recipient.
Microsemi initially launched its €50,000 scholarship program with the University of Limerick in August 2012 as part of the company's 20 year anniversary of operations in Ireland. Scholarships are awarded to a first-year engineering student from County Clare to the value of €3,000 per academic year, or €12,000 per student. The original €50,000 were awarded to a student for each of the four academic years (2012/2013, 2013/2014, 2014/2015 and 2015/2016), and now the company will grant the same scholarships to four new engineering students each December for four years beginning December 2016. Winners are selected objectively via the students' scores on the Leaving Certificate, a national examination students complete at the end of secondary school.
"We are pleased to announce the continuation of our €50,000 scholarship program, as this introduces our company to some of the brightest talent in the region while supporting their academic achievements in engineering," said Jim Aralis, chief technology officer and vice president of advanced development at Microsemi. "Leveraging our longstanding relationship with the University of Limerick, engineering students are exposed to internships, hands-on education and coursework which are extremely relevant to Microsemi's business, products and technologies. Our scholarship program is both an investment in the future of our company and the success of our Clare community's most deserving youth."
In conjunction with the new €50,000 scholarship program, the company also announced its new "Microsemi Women in Engineering" scholarship, a one-time €2,000 award which will be presented to Eimear O'Sullivan in late August 2016. O'Sullivan will graduate from the University of Limerick with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic and Computer Engineering degree, with a First Class Honors. Microsemi's new award is given to the highest performing graduating female student registered in the Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic and Computer Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering in Design and Manufacture, or Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering courses at the University of Limerick.
"Expanding our support for the specific achievements of our female students here in our community reflects Microsemi's ongoing commitment to diversity and to securing top talent for our company," said Siobhan Dolan Clancy, vice president and general manager of Microsemi's Discrete Products Group. "We congratulate Eimear for achieving such an impressive level of engineering education."
The University of Limerick and Microsemi have worked together for decades to ensure top-tier engineering resources are available to all students, offering real-world training and education to prepare them for in-demand technology careers. The four recipients of Microsemi's initial scholarships have each completed an internship or summer employment with Microsemi in one of its three Ireland facilities, reflecting the strong support system the institutions have developed together.
"The University is delighted with this new commitment from Microsemi, which not only rewards excellence in engineering generally, but also further strengthens the university's commitment to gender equality through its 'Women in Engineering' prize," said Professor Edmond Magner, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Limerick.
In addition, Laurence Egan, the first recipient of the Microsemi Scholarship in 2012, has just been announced as a joint winner of the Gold Medal from the University of Limerick. The Gold Medal is awarded annually to an undergraduate student at the university graduating with the highest overall Quality Credit Average (QCA) result in his or her final year of study and signifies the highest level of academic achievement.
