The SAE Foundation 25th Anniversary Celebration Honors Edsel B. Ford and Raises Over $400,000 for STEM Programs
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WARRENDALE, PA--May 17, 2012: The SAE Foundation yesterday honored Edsel B. Ford II with its Industry Leadership Award and raised more than $400,000 to fund STEM education programs during the Foundation's 25th Anniversary Celebration at Ford Field in Detroit. Much of the proceeds came from a live auction of a one-of-a-kind Ford Mustang built by Ford Motorsports and Roush Performance. The SAE Foundation is the charitable arm of SAE International. Its programs are among the most widely-recognized and successful in classroom-based education in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) areas.
In remarks after accepting the Industry Leadership, Mr. Ford said, "I am truly humbled to receive the SAE Foundation's Industry Leadership Award, however the real honor goes to the many hard working men and women of our engineering, product development and design staff who have brought passion, dedication and ingenuity to our worldwide product line-up that is now an integral part of Ford Motor Company's DNA. I am honored to be recognized and represent the Ford team tonight." Ford is a member of the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company and a consultant to Ford. He is active in company affairs and dealer relations and a member of several charitable, philanthropic and community organizations. He was recognized for his more than 40 years of commitment and dedication to improving the U.S. automotive industry.
Additional highlights of the 25th Anniversary Celebration included:
- The Stefan Pischinger Young Industry Leadership Award, sponsored by FEV, was given to Shady El Safty, a quality manager for General Motors Corporation and Telikepalli Kumar Prasad, an engineering manager - Hybrids at Eaton Corporation. The award is presented annually to young men and women in the engineering community, ages 35 and under who have significant accomplishments and who show potential for leadership growth in the automotive industry.
- Joseph Colucci, president of Automotive Fuels Consulting, was given the 2012 Donald W. Ableson Award for Visionary Leadership. Colucci was recognized for his leadership within the SAE Foundation organization and for his significant contributions to improving STEM education and advancing the SAE mission.
- The 2nd annual Gordon Millar Award, funded by AVL, was presented to Dan and Vicky Hancock for their continuous philanthropic support of the SAE Foundation Mission to encourage and increase student participation and achievement in STEM education. Hancock is a retired executive from General Motors.
"The evening was a testament to the industry-wide support for our STEM education programs," said Matt Miller, director of the SAE Foundation and pre-professional programs. "The support from companies like Ford, Roush and the dozens of others who are committed to improving the industry's competitiveness will help us offer our programs to even more students in the future."
The evening's theme, "The Future STEMs from You!" celebrated the SAE Foundation's individual and collective efforts to improve the state of STEM education for America's students. The event brought together corporate sponsors, industry leaders, volunteers, teachers and students who are involved in SAE programming.
In Michigan, it's estimated that 13,000 students will benefit from the SAE Foundation's STEM programs in 2012, up from 11,000 in 2011.
About the SAE Foundation
The SAE Foundation is the charitable arm of SAE International that
strives to encourage and increase student participation and achievement in
science, technology, engineering and math through educational programs,
including A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design
Series. SAE International is a global association of more than
133,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace,
automotive and commercial-vehicle industries. SAE International's core
competencies are life-long learning and voluntary consensus standards
development.