Since 2003, the ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation – Pittsburgh Chapter has helped recruit top notch doctoral candidates in engineering and the life sciences to Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. ARCS, a women-run non-profit organization, has committed $575,000 in support of 39 individual doctoral students since the chapter’s inception.
The Pittsburgh Chapter of ARCS is a fairly new participant in the 50-year tradition of advancing science in America. Begun in Los Angeles in 1958, the ARCS Foundation now has 14 chapters across the United States operating in partnership with 44 of the country’s leading universities. Nationally, ARCS has contributed more than $66M in cumulative support of more than 8,000 of the best and brightest American students in the sciences.
The ARCS - Pittsburgh Chapter provides grants of $5,000/year for three years to top U.S. applicants to selected graduate programs at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University. The grants are given directly to the students and can be used for any purpose to help the students during their graduate studies. With its focus on strengthening America’s leadership in science and technology-based fields, ARCS provides a medium by which individuals and corporate, civic and philanthropic organizations can collectively enhance the United States’ capacity for innovation while also attracting world-class talent to Pittsburgh.
Originally started at Carnegie Mellon University through the College of Engineering, the School of Computer Science and the Mellon College of Science, the ARCS Pittsburgh Chapter now has expanded to include the School of Medicine and the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and the doctoral programs of Acoustics, Ecology and Plant Biology at Penn State University.
Armen Arevian, an ARCS scholar in the last year of the combined M.D./Ph.D. program at the biological sciences department at the Mellon College of Science and the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, has used the funding to help offset the daily cost of living, as well as to fund additional research. On top of the three $5,000 grants Arevian received through the ARCS foundation, he pointed out that the social connections he’s gained through the program are invaluable.
“The ARCS program has helped me in several ways,” Arevian said. “Obviously, when you’re a student, getting $2,500 twice a year really helps – the money goes a long way. However, for me, the bigger benefit is having the opportunity to connect with organizations and meet people here in Pittsburgh through ARCS.
“I grew up in Los Angeles and completed my undergrad in neurobiology at UC Berkley, so the social support ARCS provides is very valuable to me,” he continued. “It has been great to meet all of the ARCS supporters as well – they provide a very positive environment.”
David Dzombak, Ph.D., P.E. the Associate Dean for Graduate & Faculty Affairs at Carnegie Mellon’s Carnegie Institute of Technology is the main point of contact for ARCS at the university. He underscored the importance of ARCS funding to Carnegie Mellon’s recruiting efforts.
“The ARCS grants help us a lot with recruiting top U.S. students,” Dzombak said. “When universities recruit in science and engineering fields, the competition is intense for the top recruits. All of these applicants will have received offers of research assistantships from other universities. We also offer them research assistantships, but the discretionary ARCS grants give Carnegie Mellon a valuable advantage when competing with universities throughout the world for the best scholars. ARCS also has a very strong commitment to providing its scholars with networking opportunities and moral support.”
PPG Industries is one of several high-profile companies that support the Pittsburgh chapter of ARCS. In PPG’s case, the company provides $5,000 worth of support per year through the PPG Industries Foundation. PPG maintains a relationship with its ARCS scholar through a mentor relationship, which allows the company to develop a connection with the student before he graduates.
“We really found value in the ARCS program because it is unique, cost-effective and a proven way for a company like PPG to make an impact on science and technology,” Sue Sloan, the Executive Director of the PPG Industries Foundation, said. “For us, having a mentor in personal contact with the scholar in addition to funding is especially valuable because it allows PPG to build a relationship with the student. Through the mentor relationship, we are able to educate our scholar about the focus of PPG and how it relates to his field of study.”
As part of PPG’s involvement with ARCS, Jack Burgman, the Director of Technology for Substrate Protection Systems for PPG Automotive Coatings, acts as a mentor to PPG’s scholar, Christopher Wirth. Wirth is doing his postgraduate work in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon with a focus on Colloid science, electrokinetics, and electrochemistry. Through the ARCS Foundation, Wirth is receiving funding from PPG through the 2009-10 academic year.
"Through my mentorship of Chris, we are trying to expose him to different aspects of industrial technology in use at PPG,” Burgman said. “In the future, I would like to have Chris visit our research facilities to illustrate how his skills could be applied to manufacturing or research within PPG.
“I think the ARCS program is very valuable because it cultivates relationships between students, universities and corporations,” Burgman pointed out. “These relationships help the students to better understand how their doctoral work relates to industry.”
For additional information about the ARCS Foundation, visit www.arcsfoundation.org or contact pittsburgh@arcsfoundation.org.
