SAIC Contributes To
Scholarships, Awards At WKU

March 13, 2003

Bowling Green, Ky. - A retired Western Kentucky University faculty member is helping recruit students in the sciences through scholarships.

Dr. George Vourvopoulos, who recently retired from Physics Department and as head of the Applied Physics Institute, on Wednesday presented a $20,000 check from Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to WKU President Gary Ransdell and Blaine Ferrell, dean of the Ogden College of Science and Engineering. The gift will fund two presidential scholarships in the sciences and provide two $500 awards for the best graduate and undergraduate presentations at the Sigma Xi research conference at Western.

Dr. Vourvopoulus said he requested the money "in appreciation of what Western has done." SAIC is adapting for commercial use technology Dr. Vourvopoulos developed while at Western.

Ferrell called the scholarships fatastic. "There are no strings attached and we just want to make sure we get excellent students in the sciences," he said.

The Sigma Xi conference is "a big event we have in the college every year that gets students stimulated in doing research with faculty members and then they present their papers," Dr. Ferrell added. Now, in addition to the experience, students will have the incentive of the $500 award, he said. "It's a great boost to the program."

While the gift funds the scholarships for one year and the research awards for two, Dr. Vourvopoulus said, "I hope to be able to come back next year with more money like that."

SAIC, a Fortune 500 company, is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States with about 40,000 employees. The company provides information technology, systems integration and eSolutions worldwide.

For more information, contact Blaine Ferrell at (270) 745-4448. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

-WKU-