Applications due February 1. Undergraduate students at Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering may apply for this $8,000 scholarship. The Gavin Family Scholarship provides $4,000 and Auburn University provides $4,000 matching funds. Auburn University may nominate two scholarship recipients each year. Students who receive this scholarship may be eligible to have it renewed for a second year.
Eligibility
- Rising freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors
- Attending (or planning to attend) Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
- Majoring in Chemical Engineering
- Focus on polymer and composite studies
- Native-born US Citizen, eligible for in-state tuition
Selection Criteria
- Demonstrated leadership in school or community
- Financial need
- SAT scores
- Academic expectancy to graduate
- Work experience and history
Apply
Auburn University students must apply through the Auburn University Scholarship Opportunity Manager (AUSOM). For more information, contact Jessica Taylor, Director of Recruiting and Scholarships in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, at [email protected], 334.844.2251, or http://eng.auburn.edu/current-students/scholarships.
Mr. Charles E. Gavin III
Charles E. Gavin, III has been a very active member of AATCC since 1958 when he joined the student chapter at Auburn University. He served as a Councilor of the Southeastern Section, AATCC President, and Treasurer of AATCC and AATCC Foundation. Gavin was instrumental in establishing AATCC Foundation Inc. Gavin began his textile career in 1959 as a shift dyer in the carpet industry. He quickly grew from superintendent of carpet dyeing to vice-president of carpet manufacturing. Under his direction, the first acid-dyed nylon carpet product line was developed, which changed the direction of the carpet dyeing industry by providing products with superior colorfastness properties. Gavin formed MFG Chemical Inc, which produces a wide range of surfactants and polymers in two manufacturing plants. In June of 2017, Gavin sold a major part of the company, MFG LLC. The family maintains a seat on the Board and a minor portion of the LLC, which has grown to a $11.8 billion corporation and part of the Platt River Private Placement Group. Gavin attributes his career successes to the education he received at Auburn. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Textile Management (Dyeing Option) in 1959. Gavin’s first two years at Auburn were funded by a scholarship he received from West Point-Pepperell and money he received from the University’s co-op program. Gavin never forgot the assistance and support he received from those caring individuals who helped foster his growth in his early college and work career. He has generously given to the Auburn Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, endowing a Chemical Engineering chair, and recently gifted the university with $8 million towards renovating the Textile Building into a state of the art engineering research laboratory. Through the Auburn Textile Education Foundation, he endowed two Charles E. Gavin III scholarships for students in polymer and fiber engineering. In 1997, Gavin was one of several of AATCC members having the vision to establish the AATCC Foundation, Inc. as a separate charitable organization with its own Board of Directors, but under the control of AATCC. Gavin was the first contributor and encouraged other AATCC members to also contribute. Hugh and Phil Patrick each made contributions due to Gavin’s example and encouragement. In order to pass along the opportunities provided to him, he created the Charles E. Gavin III Family Scholarship for students studying materials science and engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and for students studying polymer and fiber engineering at Auburn University. Later, after establishing scholarships at Auburn University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Gavin funded and established the Martin J. Bide Scholarship at the University of Rhode Island, and two graduate fellowships. These fellowships, the Grady, Hauser, Houser, Daniels Graduate Fellowship, and the Connelly-Perkins Graduate Fellowship, were established and provided initial funding by Gavin in honor of close friends and associates at AATCC who had graduated from North Carolina State University and Clemson University. The Grady, Hauser, Houser, Daniels Graduate Fellowship is for Ph.D. students studying at the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University, and the Connelly-Perkins Graduate Fellowship is for students studying at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University. “It is the desire and hope of the Gavin Family that those students who are chosen to receive this scholarship will, someday, consider passing this opportunity on to another deserving student.”