The Power Transmission Distributors Association’s (PTDA) education, outreach and research unit — the PTDA Foundation — has launched two new scholarships aimed to empower individuals who are passionate about pursuing power transmission/motion control fields.

One is a student scholarship and one is an employee scholarship.

The new student scholarship provides financial support to those who are considering or currently pursuing an education in PT/MC-related fields. Applicants must be currently enrolled or recently accepted as a student at a trade school, technical school, community college or four-year university in fields relevant to the PT/MC industry. Up to five $3,000 scholarships will be awarded.

The employee scholarship provides financial support to individuals currently employed full-time at a PT/MC distributor or manufacturer in North America. Applicants must also be currently enrolled or recently accepted as a student at any level at a trade school, technical school, community college or university, and must be studying PT/MC-related fields in engineering, technology or business. Up to five $2,500 scholarships will be awarded.

Applications for both scholarships can be found online at ptworkforce.org/scholarships. The application deadline is July 1. Awardees will be selected in August.

“By providing financial support by way of scholarships, we want to build the robust pipeline of talent needed to foster employee growth and ensure the industry has the expertise it needs to thrive,” 2024 PTDA Foundation President Matt Pavlinsky (Applied Industrial Technologies) said in a May 8 news release. “We believe targeting individuals with a demonstrated interest or commitment to pursuing work in PT/MC-related fields will help ease some of the burden of employers struggling to find qualified candidates.”