Engineering Alum Donates $1 Million to University-Industry Partnerships

Utah State University College of Engineering alum David G. Sant has donated an additional $1 million in scholarship funds to encourage industry to establish joint research programs at USU.

The David G. Sant Undergraduate Research Scholar Endowment will support up to eight students per year who are pursuing undergraduate degrees in the College of Engineering. The $5,000 annual stipend will be awarded to students involved with a USU approved corporate sponsored research project overseen by a USU engineering faculty member housed in the Sant Engineering Innovation Building. The corporate sponsor must be willing to match Sant’s annual stipend, bringing the scholarship total to $10,000 per year.

 

“A strong relationship with industrial partners and private companies gives students the experience they need to be better prepared for a career in engineering,” said Sant. “These scholarships will also offer a huge recruiting advantage for companies who participate with USU.”

 

Those applying for a scholarship will be competitively considered based on a submitted research proposal, scholastic achievement and potential for contribution to an engineering field. The scholarships will have the duration of one year, but students may reapply in subsequent years.

 

“Dave Sant knows that for our students to create the technologies and services of tomorrow they need to participate in research partnerships with industry today,” said Scott Hinton, dean of USU’s College of Engineering.

 

Sant and his wife, Diann, have donated more than $7 million to support both the David G. Sant General Engineering Scholarship Endowment and the construction of the new David G. Sant Engineering Innovation Building.

 

After a career that started at IBM, Sant became a key contributor to the growth and evolution of the telecommunications industry from an analog-voice-only medium to a digital-based communications tool. Sant then followed his interests when he founded several start-up companies based in the telecommunications business.

 

Sant and his wife have also established scholarships at Santa Clara University and San Jose State and provided funds for a library in Preston, Idaho.

 

Sant earned a bachelor’s and master’s in electrical engineering at USU in ’62 and ’64. He then went on to earn an MBA from Santa Clara University. 

 

For more information on USU’s College of Engineering its Web site.