The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics will offer several four-year scholarships for undergraduate students who have demonstrated academic merit.

The Gregory R. Rein Scholarship has been established with a generous gift from the estate of Gregory Rein. The gift funded a quasi-endowment that allows the head of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics to offer a four-year scholarship that will cover at least full tuition and fees to incoming first-year engineering students who have selected Aeronautics and Astronautics as their first choice academic program. The size of the gift will allow the School to award several scholarships each year for the foreseeable future.

For the 2021-22 academic year, the head offered scholarships to students who already have been identified as academically excellent and qualified for merit scholarships from Purdue. To address strategic enrollment needs in the School, the evidence of a strong commitment to diversity in the students’ applications was considered.

AAE’s undergraduate enrollment in Fall 2020, with nearly 1,000 students, was 15.6 percent female and 7.7 percent underrepresented minority (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian).

“Prior to the establishment of the Gregory R. Rein Scholarships, the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics had only one four-year undergraduate scholarship to offer with some restrictions on eligibility. Offering these new four-year scholarships to academically excellent students who are passionate about aerospace engineering and have demonstrated their commitment to diversity will improve our student body,” said William Crossley, the J. William Uhrig and Anastasia Vournas Head of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Three incoming Purdue undergraduate students accepted Rein Scholarship offers to begin in the 2021-22 academic year. After successfully completing first-year engineering, the scholarships will stay with the students when they enter AAE.

AAE’s undergraduate program consistently has been ranked among the nation’s best by the U.S. News & World Report.

“These exceptional students who applied to Purdue likely applied to many of our peer aerospace engineering programs and likely received generous scholarship offers,” Crossley said. “Offering a four-year scholarship to Purdue makes us an even more attractive destination for their undergraduate academic experience.”