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The Fellowship Program is Tau Beta Pi's single most important project for the advancement of engineering education and the profession. It is a time-proven idea which was pioneered by Tau Beta Pi in the honor-society field. The plan was adopted by the 1928 Convention as a result of the recommendation and labors of President A. D. Moore.

Since the beginning, the purpose has been to finance, for a select group of members chosen for merit and need, a year of graduate study at the colleges of their choice. A distinguishing feature of Tau Beta Pi fellowships has always been that they are as free of binding rules as possible. Many other fellowships are designated for some specific purpose, making it difficult for students with original ideas to find one exactly fitted to their needs. Tau Beta Pi fellows are free to do graduate work in any field which will enable them to contribute to the engineering profession. The only specific duty of awardees is to write a report at the completion of the fellowship year summarizing their work.

A Fellowship Board was created in 1932 to assist the Director of Fellowships and the Executive Council in the arduous task of careful selection. To date, a year of graduate study has been made possible for 943 members from outright gifts by the Association, from bequests and contributions by alumni, and from matching gifts and donations by industry for a total of $5,300,000.

Before 1979, honorary fellows relinquished their claim to stipends because changed circumstances permitted their taking graduate work without financial assistance from Tau Beta Pi.

The 1979 Convention added fellowships-without-stipend to the program. They may be awarded to successful applicants who, after submitting their applications, receive substantial aid for graduate study from other sources and no longer have financial need.

Stipends, originally $750 for nine months' work, were reduced to $650 in 1933 when living costs fell, and the latter figure was retained through 1942. When the program was reinstated after World War II, the basic stipend was set at $1,000, less veterans' subsistence benefits where appropriate. Since then it has been increased from time to time, as living costs required, and it is currently $10,000 per recipient. In addition, fellows have often been successful in securing tuition scholarships at graduate institutions.

Graduate fellowships have long been offered by large industrial firms and other agencies, but the cost of administering fellowship programs, when added to the stipends paid, has discouraged some companies from participating in such activities. The idea that the facilities and personnel of Tau Beta Pi might be used in the evaluation and selection of applicants for fellowship awards, with the stipends to be paid by industries, was first proposed by past President A. D. Moore and was authorized by the 1952 Convention. The Executive Council and the Director of Fellowships established the basic policy for such cooperative awards, and the Louis Allis Company of Milwaukee became the first firm to offer a fellowship through the program in 1953-54.

The 3M Co. gave 31 fellowships during 1965-94. Hughes Aircraft Co. has sponsored 11 fellowships, the first in 1961-62. Other industrial participants have been American Potash & Chemical Corp., Ford Motor Co., Gerber Products Co., Honeywell, Inc., Industrial Nucleonics Corp., and Monsanto Co.

Recipients of Tau Beta Pi industrial fellowships are selected by the Fellowship Board from applicants for the Association's regular program. Where possible, the industrial awards are made to fellows who plan to take advanced work in the field of the firm's interest, but no obligations in any respect are placed on the company, the fellow, or Tau Beta Pi. Recipients of industrial awards are paid the same stipend as other fellows. Industrial firms have supported 110 of our fellowships.

The Donald A. and Jane C. Stark Charitable Trust has provided 32 fellowships since 1982-83. The award is named for Donald A. Stark who contributed much to progress in the fluid-power field. A gift of $150,000 for the Fellowship Fund was received from the trust in 1986.

The Chicago-based firm of Consoer, Townsend & Associates gave a generous gift to support four fellowships starting in 1975-76 named for Arthur W. Consoer, who was Vice President of the Society in 1958-62.

A total of eight A. Maddox, four L.J. Hollander, three M.M. Wilson, three F.A. Lenfesty, two L.C. Lynnworth, two H.D. Belock, and two P.W. Klipsch Fellowships, the Fellow No. 38, the F.R. Earle, C.H. Holley, R.H. Kanning, H.E. Potter, A.H. Powell, and C.C. Young Fellowships were awarded following receipt of generous gifts from those members. The Faires Fellowships were named for Prof. V.M. Faires, and the Rogers Fellowship was named for L.C. Rogers, former Executive Councillor, both of whom willed Tau Beta Pi generous gifts.

In 1978 the Tau Beta Pi received a bequest of $60,500 from the estate of M.M. Wilson, IL B '19 and placed it in the Fellowship Fund to provide investment earnings in perpetuity. In 1979 a bequest of $50,000 was received from the estate of W.E. Deuchler, Sr., IL A '10, to establish the Deuchler Fellowship. In 2005 a bequestof $256,000 was received from the estate of Mabel E. and Marshall Anderson, MI G '32, for the Anderson Fellowship. In 2007 bequests of $219,000 and $138,000 arrived from the estates of Rena A. & D.L. Arm, PA E '30, and of Mary A. & E.P. Hanley, IL B '42, for Arm and Hanley Fellowships.

The first five James Fife (named in honor of the father of member William Fife, California Alpha 1921) Fellowships, were awarded in 1986-90 following receipt of generous gifts from William Fife. In 1990, the Association was named as income beneficiary from an irrevocable perpetual trust established by the estate of William Fife to provide investment earnings for Tau Beta Pi-James Fife Fellowships. The value of the trust in 1990 was $341,000 in addition to ownership interest in 28 various oil and natural-gas properties.

Before 1948, awards were made solely from Tau Beta Pi's operating budget. The Alumni Fellowship Fund was started in 1938 by a gift from the Los Angeles (now the Southern California) Alumnus Chapter, and contributions from individuals and groups were added to it. By 1948 a sufficient sum had accumulated to permit the award of the first Alumni Fellowship as an addition to the regular awards. As donations continued, the second and third Alumni Fellows were appointed for 1952-53 and 1960-61. Annual giving by alumni, matching gifts by corporations, and the earnings of the Fellowship Fund now support the annual program.

Beginning in 1956-57, the Spencer Fellowship was designated in honor of Charles H. Spencer, MI G '96, who did so much as President in 1936-47 to advance the Association and to guide and inspire engineering students. "Uncle Charlie" Spencer, as he was known to thousands of members, died in 1961. This fellowship is given annually to that awardee whose contributions to the welfare of his or her collegiate chapter and college are judged most worthy of commendation.

The second award honoring a man who made outstanding contributions to Tau Beta Pi was established in 1961. Harold M. King, MA A '10, a charter member and first president of his chapter, was President of Tau Beta Pi in 1954-58. To commemorate his interest in the professional development of young engineers, the King Fellowship is awarded each year to that fellow whose leadership and participation in the student branch of a national technical society are judged to have been outstanding.

The Melvin De Groote Fellowship was awarded in 1964 and 1965 as a tribute to the longtime Fellowship Fund Trustee who served from 1930, when the position was created, until his death in 1963. Dr. De Groote devoted much time and knowledgeable effort to the development of the Fellowship Program and to the financial affairs of Tau Beta Pi. The Salma Fellowship was given in 1990 in memory of Emanuel A. Salma, who served the Fellowship Board during 1953-89. The Paul H. Robbins Fellowship was given in 1997 to honor the 1947-79 Director of Fellowships.

The Astronauts Fellowship was awarded in 1967-68, 1997-98, and 2007-08 in honor and memory of three men who lost their lives at Cape Kennedy in a fire aboard their Apollo spacecraft on January 27, 1967: Virgil I. Grissom, IN A '50, Edward H. White II, MI G '52, and Robert B. Chaffee, IN A '57. It was awarded in 1986-87, 1996-97, and 2007-08 in honor and memory of three members who lost their lives at Kennedy Space Center on the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986: Ellison S. Onizuka, CO B '69, Judith A. Resnik, PA G '70, and F. Richard Scobee, AZ A '65. It was awarded in 2003-04 in honor and memory of Rick D. Husband, TX B '80, who lost his life on the space shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003.

As part of the 1974 merger of Sigma Tau into Tau Beta Pi, the assets of its foundation were added to the Society's Fellowship Fund to assist in providing an annual grant commemorating Sigma Tau and honoring Clarel B. Mapes, its former president and secretary-treasurer, who died in 1967.

The Founder of Tau Beta Pi, Dr. Edward H. Williams, Jr., was honored by the establishment in 1979 of the Williams Fellowship, given annually to a fellow who plans to become a professional engineering teacher.

The Centennial Fellowship, given initially in 1985, commemorates Tau Beta Pi's 100th anniversary. The Centennial Fellow shall have demonstrated outstanding scholastic skill as well as a similar dedication to Tau Beta Pi, as demonstrated by Founder Williams. The designation is given to that fellow who, in the opinion of the Fellowship Board, is most outstanding.

The Secretary-Treasurers Emeritus of Tau Beta Pi, R.C. Matthews and R.H. Nagel, were honored by the establishment in 1998 of the Matthews and Nagel Fellowships. The Headquarters staff was honored in 1998 and 1999 by the Headquarters Fellowship.

Raymond A. and Ina C. Best Fellowship. Through the interest of the Best family, a trust fund in memory of Ina C. and Raymond A. Best, NY G '33, was established in 1995 for a fellowship for a graduate engineer/member to be used exclusively for the purpose of studying business administration at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and for acquiring a master's degree in business. Application is made on the Tau Beta Pi Fellowship form and mailed by January 15 of each year. The stipend for this special award is $10,000. For information about Rensselaer's Lally School of Management & Technology, click here.