UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Four Penn State Smeal College of Business supply chain students were awarded prestigious scholarships recently at the 119th annual dinner of the Traffic Club of Pittsburgh.
Matthew Hinkle, a senior in supply chain and information systems and minor in information systems management; Maria Karamanos, a senior in supply chain and information systems and minor in information systems management; Reilly McCarthy, a senior in supply chain and information systems and minor in information sciences technology; and Emma Scott, a junior in supply chain and information systems and minor in information systems management, each received a $7,500 scholarship.
Smeal dominated the scholarship awards, receiving half of the eight awarded.
“Our Smeal education played a pivotal role in securing a scholarship. All the winners had outstanding GPAs," said McCarthy. "The lowest of all eight was 3.95. Additionally, Smeal has granted us so many opportunities to grow as professionals in our field."
“The primary one that stands out to me is the research through the Center for Supply Chain Research that we have all done in some part. I’ve completed three semester-long research projects through CSCR with Corning, Inc., Odyssey Logistics and Unilever, along with an Amazon internship. I feel like these real-world experiences helped give me an edge over other applicants," added McCarthy.
Scholarship recipients are granted a two-year membership to the Traffic Club of Pittsburgh. Additionally, if they wish, their contact information, resume and composition are shared with Traffic Club sponsors to be offered opportunities for internships and full-time employment. More than 42 companies are involved with the club.
All eight scholarship winners were invited to the annual dinner, which was held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh and introduced to the more than 1,000 industry professionals. The keynote speaker for the evening was Ben Nemtin, the bestselling author of “What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?” and a star of the highly rated MTV show, “The Buried Life.”
Following dinner and the keynote address, scholarship recipients were invited to stay and network at a host of company hospitality booths. As a result, McCarthy said, he’s already been contacted by three prominent companies about possible internships.
Traffic Club membership is open to anyone involved in transportation. Its purpose is to encourage and protect trade and commerce by bringing together those engaged in transportation of freight and passengers so that their mutual interests will be advanced.
The club organizes educational, social and recreational events during the year and emphasizes its commitment to the transportation community through its annual award of merit-based college scholarships to students who have designated transportation, logistics, supply chain management or a related field as their major field of interest.