A West Virginia University engineering student was one of two students in the nation to receive the Rockwell Collins Scholarship from the Aerospace States Association.

Katie Demyan, a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering dual major, was selected for the $2,000 award based on school and community activities, grade point average, academic standing and a personal statement.

“Winning this scholarship speaks to the tradition of excellence of WVU engineering students. It’s cool to be a part of that responsibility to uphold that tradition,” said Demyan, a Huttonsville native.

With the help of her adviser, Dave Solley, program coordinator of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, she completed the application for the Aerospace States Association scholarship and wrote her statement of career goals.

“Katie is a good student with great leadership potential and is a pleasure to work with,” said Solley. “She has a great deal of enthusiasm for engineering. To have Katie be awarded one is a credit to her and our department.”

“I was really honored to hear that I had been awarded the scholarship. It was up to me to find financial aid sources, so this is a big relief,” she said.

Though she came into WVU’s engineering program knowing that she wanted to be an aerospace engineer, her summer internship with Southwest Airlines gave her a career direction.

“This summer has focused what I want to do, which is to pioneer the future of aviation and sustainable transportation alternatives,” she said. “There is so much to learn about jet engines and propulsion that I can definitely see myself pursuing sustainable transportation alternatives in this field.”

Demyan interned at the company’s Powerplant Engineering Group in Dallas, where her team was responsible for maintaining jet engines and troubleshooting any problems that the engines may have. She believes that her engineering education at WVU helped her secure both the scholarship and the internship because of the unique opportunities she has had.

“WVU prepared me to be a great problem solver – that’s what we do every day,” said Demyan. “The dual degree program is unique and showed I have a well-rounded education.”

Along with her academic success, Demyan was a drum major of the Mountaineer Marching Band and member of Kappa Kappa Psi national band service fraternity. This year, she will be a Statler College Ambassador and work on the microgravity research team.

-WVU-

wbk/08/20/14

CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086, Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu

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