Annie Zeng of Diamond Bar Receives Prestigious Research Scholarship at Olin College

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Annie Zeng

NEEDHAM, MA (03/05/2013)(readMedia)-- Annie Zeng of Diamond Bar, Calif.,a sophomore at Olin College of Engineering, has been named a Clare Boothe Luce Research Scholar.

Zeng is one of eight Olin students named to the prestigious scholarship program, which is funded by a grant made to Olin College in 2011 from the Henry Luce Foundation of New York City, through its Clare Boothe Luce Program. The eight students named were the first from Olin to receive the honor.

Zeng, a mechanical engineering major, is working with Assistant Professors Aaron Hoover and Lawrence Neeley on a project researching rapid prototyping instrumentation. She began her research in January, and will continue her work over the summer and during the fall semester.

"I am delighted that Annie will be one of our first Clare Boothe Luce Research Scholars," said Rebecca Christianson, project director and assistant professor of applied physics at Olin. "I believe this opportunity will provide her with research and mentorship experiences that may well transform her future career options and choices. As one of the first Olin students to receive this honor, Annie is playing a pioneering role and setting a high standard for student research activities at Olin College, which prides itself on empowering women and men for success in science and engineering."

The award will provide a stipend for research this semester and housing during the summer, plus an additional stipend and four course credits for research continued the following semester. Zeng will also have access to additional funds to cover research, conference and travel costs.

Since its first grants in 1989, the Clare Boothe Luce Program has become the single most significant source of private support for women in science, mathematics and engineering. Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987), the wife of Time Magazine co-founder Henry R. Luce, was a playwright, journalist, U.S. Ambassador to Italy and the first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut. The research scholars program is part of the New York-based Henry Luce Foundation.

Opened in 2002, Olin College of Engineering is rapidly garnering a national reputation for innovation in engineering education. With only seven classes of graduates to date and 501 alumni-of which 43 percent are women-Olin is also emerging as a significant producer of young women pursuing employment and graduate degrees in science and engineering. Currently 45 percent of Olin's student body is women, an unusually high proportion for an engineering school.