SWE Twin Tiers Section
Section Selected, Endowed Scholarships
The SWE Twin Tiers Section was founded in 1979. SWE Twin Tiers is located in the Twin Tiers region of New York State and Pennsylvania. SWE Twin Tiers awards the Margaret R. Brewster Scholarship each year to a graduating high school senior who will be pursing an engineering degree at a university within the SWE Twin Tiers Section boundary.
Margaret R. Brewster Scholarship
SWE Twin Tiers began their section’s scholarship program in 1995. At that time, George Brewster, Manager of Recruiting at Corning Incorporated was selected to receive SWE’s Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award for support of women in engineering programs. The award included a stipend of $1,000. George donated the money back to the local SWE section in the form of a scholarship fund.
George created two $500 scholarships for graduating women seniors entering the field of science or engineering. Initially, the scholarships were awarded to students only in the Corning/Painted Post School district. George was also instrumental in helping the SWE Twin Tiers develop an effective scholarship fundraiser in the form of an annual golf tournament. The success of this tournament has allowed the section to expand its scholarship offering to include five $1500 scholarships, which have been given since 1998 and are offered to students throughout the local area.
The amount was increased in 2008 based on the overwhelming success of the golf tournament and the people and organizations that support SWE. The original scholarships were named for George Brewster’s mother, Margaret R. Brewster. In 2015, SWE Twin Tiers endowed the Margaret R. Brewster Scholarship with the first scholarship awarded in the fall of 2017. Margaret was a single parent in a non-traditional occupation in the 1940’s. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Margaret to the position of Postmaster in Randolph, MA. She was one of only three women postmasters in the United States at the time.
Photo Caption – George Brewster, Margaret’s son, speaking at the 1988 SWE National Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico to students making the transition from student to professional engineers. From the SWE Archives.
Reference – SWE Twin Tiers &
https://ethw.org/Oral-History:George_Brewster#Corning.27s_Sponsorship_of_SWE
Available to applicants in New York and Pennsylvania only. Click here for further information.
