The STC Scholarship Committee is excited to congratulate the winner of the 2023 STC Scholarship. Gabriel Lorenzo Aguilar has been awarded a $500 scholarship for the 2023-2024 school year. Gabriel is also invited to volunteer at Summit in Atlanta, GA in May.
Gabriel Lorenzo Aguilar is a graduate student at Penn State University. His research centers the problems of studying audiences who are in dire need of aid and assistance and who rely on technical communication in life-critical situations, especially migrants, refugees, and asylees. We were impressed by his extraordinary research which furthers what he describes as Humanitarian Technical Communication (HTC) through theories, practices, and methods. His award-winning research can be found in journals such as Technical Communication and Intercom, among others, and in a “conscientious revision of a warning poster aimed at desperate migrants.”
To qualify for an STC scholarship, applicants must be STC student members and have completed at least one year of post-secondary education. They must be working toward a degree or a graduate certificate in communication of information about technical subjects. Additionally, they must have at least one full year of academic work remaining. If they meet all of these requirements, then applicants submit applications, letters of recommendation, transcripts, and essays that show their goals and achievements, their experience in technical communication, as well as an understanding of technical communication trends.
Applications were evaluated by the Scholarship Committee whose members had a tough choice to make as there were many good candidates. The committee’s purpose is to assist students who are pursuing an accredited degree or graduate certificate program in some aspect of technical communication. They recommend to the Board policies and procedures for awarding Society-level scholarships and grants, provide oversight and recommendations for geographic community scholarships and grants, review applications for scholarships and grants, and recommend recipients to the Board.
The committee consisted of a variety of STC members at varying points in their careers and was chaired by Kylie Jacobsen. Special thanks to Julie Gerdes, Guiseppe Getto, Jack Labriola, Karen Levine, Eva Miranda, Marcia Shannon, and Erica Stone for their service to this committee.