MSU engineers receive Southern Company scholarships
May 11, 2017
Four members of Mississippi State University’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) received scholarships and recognition from Southern Company during a recent ceremony.
This is the second year that Southern Company, a current partner of the MSU Career Center, has dedicated outreach efforts specifically to MSU engineering.
Presenting the scholarships were MSU alumni and Southern Company executives Danny Bost, executive vice president and chief nuclear officer of Southern Nuclear, and William Ball, executive vice president and chief transmission officer.
By awarding scholarships to outstanding women in the field of engineering and recruiting them to various co-op and intern programs, Southern Company is actively addressing the need for a diverse engineering workforce. As part of a generous three-year gift, Southern Company also established a faculty stipend for MSU’s Society of Women Engineers’ chapter advisor.
“There’s a pretty strong connection between executives at our company and this university, and we want to keep it that way,” Bost said during the reception. “The best way to do that is to keep working on the pipeline. This an opportunity for us to acknowledge and celebrate the success of engineering at Mississippi State University.”
The following four women were recognized by the Southern Company for their academic achievements and involvement.
Originally from Palenstine, Arkansas, Bailey Dillinger transplanted to MSU to study mechanical engineering. As a junior, she is involved in SWE, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. Dillinger is also a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, serving on the philanthropy committee.
Nikita Ghogare, a sophomore in computer science, represents her engineering discipline as a computer science departmental officer for SWE. She is the secretary of the International Student Advisory Board’s programming committee. Ghogare volunteers during MSU engineering outreach events, like Girl Scout Engineering Day and MS BEST Robotics, and is a writer for disabled students.
Mechanical Engineering major Katelyn Kovach, is a freshman from Madison, Alabama. Kovach serves on SWE’s public relations committee and volunteers with Christian World Missions.
Greenwood, Mississippi, native Nija Owens is a junior studying Industrial and Systems Engineering. In addition to SWE, she is a member of Phi Sigma Pi Honor Society, National Society of Black Engineers and IMAGE and is also the president of the Society of Collegiate Leadership and Achievement.
As a leader in the future of energy, Southern Company was one of only two companies to rank in the top three of Fortune’s most admired electric and gas utilities for the past seven consecutive years. With a wide family of companies, the Southern Company provides electric utilities in four states and natural gas distribution in seven states, as well as energy solutions, fiber optics and wireless communications across the nation.
For more information on the Southern Company, visit https://www.southerncompany.com.
The Bagley College of Engineering is online at bagley.msstate.edu. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by searching for @msuengineering.
By: Amanda Meeler