Fund-raising drive aims to extend scholarship

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 8, 2004

The Fieldbus Foundation has begun its first annual fund-raising drive in support of the James O Gray Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship.

The Fieldbus Foundation has begun its first annual fund-raising drive in support of the James O Gray Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship.

The programme, which will establish a perpetual $250,000 endowment fund for educational scholarships, benefits students seeking a career in the field of instrumentation, automation and systems technology.

The James O Gray Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship Fund honours the memory of James (Jim) O Gray, a long-time Fieldbus Foundation supporter who passed away in 2002.

Gray was employed by Invensys/Foxboro for 25 years as Sales and Marketing Manager.

He was very active in the foundation since its inception, holding positions with its board of directors, executive committee and US marketing committee.

The James O Gray Fieldbus Foundation Scholarship Fund offers annual awards to deserving students, and in doing so, provides a return to the automation industry.

Five leading educational institutions currently participate in the programme and choose the qualified recipients.

They include: Lee College (Baytown, Texas), Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Shipping and Transport College (Brielle, The Netherlands), Singapore Polytechnic, (Singapore) and Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan).

Fieldbus Foundation President and CEO Richard Timoney encouraged all automation industry participants to contribute to the James O Gray Scholarship Fund.

"Industrial manufacturers around the world face a very significant challenge: keeping pace with the accelerating retirement rate for today's experienced technicians and operators", said Timoney.

"A recent analysis done by BP Corporation concluded that within 5 years there would be a 40% shortage of the qualified personnel necessary to engineer and maintain process plant operations".

"The James O Gray Scholarship will help us to replace these highly skilled professionals".

He added: "Our scholarship programme provides strong support for educational programs that train plant personnel in the latest control and instrumentation technologies".

"Through this effort, we can keep our industry strong by enabling the education of tomorrow's workforce".

Nancy Sutterfield, a 2003 scholarship recipient from Lee College in Baytown, Texas, credited the James O Gray Scholarship programme with furthering her career objectives.

She said, "Fieldbus technology has given me hope for a brighter future, and this scholarship will enable me to reach my goals".

Donations to the endowed scholarship fund are carefully invested on a permanent basis.

Each year, the interest and dividends from the investment fund scholarships for deserving students.

The programme provided three scholarships during the 2003-04 school year, and more scholarships will be awarded for assistance during the 2004-05 year.

The number of scholarship awards will increase as the endowment fund grows.