Department of Defense SMART Scholarship
Courtesy DoD
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, announced that six UAH students have been awarded the nationally competitive Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (DoD SMART) Scholarship. The honorees include Mechanical Engineering Honors student Savannah Baron, Cybersecurity student Michaela Dent, Aerospace Engineering Honors student Alencia Hall, Computer Science Honors sophomore Brooklyn Kelly, Aerospace Engineering graduate student Michaela Hemming and Aerospace Engineering Honors alumnus Robert Schickling.
DoD SMART is a scholarship-for-service program in which the DoD provides a full scholarship for recipients to pursue STEM degrees that are focused on research to further the DoD’s mission, along with health insurance, an annual stipend and an assignment to an experienced mentor in their field. For every year of funding toward an undergraduate or graduate degree, SMART Scholars commit to working that amount of time for the DoD as a civilian employee. In addition to financial assistance, DoD SMART offers annual summer research internships at DoD facilities, including Redstone Arsenal, across the U.S. in order to prepare students for full-time employment at DoD.
Courtesy Alencia Hall
Alencia Hall is an Honors junior majoring in Aerospace Engineering and has been awarded an undergraduate SMART scholarship. She has been offered a position with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) on Redstone Arsenal and will have the opportunity to accept summer internships at the agency. Hall is involved with several organizations at UAH, including the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Scholarship (ALSAMP) and serves as an Honors Ambassador in the Honors College. In addition, she was recently awarded an internship with Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory.
Michael Mercier | UAH
Michaela Dent is a Cybersecurity junior entering into her second year with DoD SMART, having completed her first internship with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Center (CCDC) Aviation and Missile Center (AvMC) at Redstone Arsenal. This opportunity led her to switch career paths. “I used to want to work as a cyber analyst or work in network security, but now I have expanded my career interests to include hardware security,” Dent says. “I honestly find both fields of cybersecurity fascinating, so having a career pertaining to either would make me happy.”
Courtesy Savannah Baron
Savannah Baron is an Honors Mechanical Engineering student in her junior year who has been awarded an undergraduate scholarship with MDA. Through her upcoming MDA summer internships, she is confident this experience will help her find some answers about her career path. Her interest in the Defense industry is the primary contributing factor to her acceptance of the SMART scholarship, and she is looking forward to learn more about this entering into this job market, whether within government or branching out to private industry.
Courtesy Brooklyn Kelly
Brooklyn Kelly is an Honors sophomore majoring in Computer Science. She has been working with MDA at Redstone Arsenal over the summer breaks in either Cybersecurity or test engineering. As a freshman, Kelly will have the benefit of interning at MDA for three internship cycles, leading to more hands-on experience in her field.
Courtesy Robert Schickling
Robert Schickling, an Honors Aerospace Engineering alumnus, was awarded a graduate SMART Scholarship after learning about his acceptance into Virginia Tech’s Aerospace Engineering Master’s program, where he will be attending the Fall semester. After obtaining his M.S. degree, he will be working at Edwards Air Force Base in Edwards, CA, to work on structural flight testing on aircraft.
Michael Mercier | UAH
Aerospace Engineering graduate student Michaela Hemming was also offered a graduate DoD SMART Scholarship, and, as previously reported, she has a choice among three prestigious scholarship awards. Although she ultimately chose the NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) fellowship, we want to extend congratulations for her impressive accomplishment.
Fellowship and Graduate School Advisor Jennifer Staton considers the SMART Scholarship an ideal opportunity for UAH STEM students. “Because the university collaborates extensively with Redstone Arsenal, STEM career paths for UAH students in DoD are plentiful,” Staton says. “Agencies such as MDA, CCDC AvMC and the growing presence of the FBI can provide hands-on projects that our STEM students will find engaging and challenging. And this year’s scholarship recipients have already demonstrated that they would successfully contribute to these agencies’ missions.”
Staton goes on to stress the benefit of summer research opportunities. “The SMART summer internships are immensely important opportunities for students to obtain undergraduate work and research experience, which is essential for graduate level study or developing a career path.”
