Protecting Public Health and the Environment

Leading the way in water quality management

Scholarships

NYWEA Offers Over $50,000 in Scholarships Annually!

The New York Water Environment Association will be offering over $50,000 in scholarships in 2024.

**All of the scholarships on this page are for NYWEA State level scholarships. If you are looking for Chapter Scholarships, please visit the Chapter Page ​for your geographic area. 

Policies and P​rocedures **If you are copying and pasting from another document, please “paste as plain text” to avoid errors due to formatting. 

***Your scholarship application and supporting documents should be emailed to Madison Quinn at madison@nywea.org.​ Letters of recommendation and transcripts can be sent by your teachers or school administration, and should include your name in the subject line to be paired with your application***

$12,000 Environmental Career Scholarship 

The eligibility criteria for the $12,000 scholarship (paid out over four years) is as follows:

  • Year One: $1,000
  • Year Two: $2,500
  • Year Three: $3,500
  • Year Four: $5,000​​

The recipient must be:

  • A qualifying high school senior
  • A New York State resident
  • Enrolled full-time in a B.S. or B.E. degree program with an environmental emphasis.

Environmental Career Scholarship Guidelines ​

(Please also review the Policies and Procedures for all scholarships linked at the top of this page prior to applying)

Scholarship​ Application ​

Application deadline: February 28th at 5 PM Eastern Time

$6,000 Nicholas J. Bartilucci Environmental Scholarship

The eligibility criteria for the $6,000 scholarship (paid out in one lump sum) is as follows:

The recipient must be:

  • A qualifying high school senior
  • A New York State resident
  • Enrolled full-time in a B.S. or B.E. degree program with an emphasis on public service.

Application deadline: February 28th at 5 PM Eastern Time

Bar​tilucci Scholarship Guidelines​

(Please also review the Policies and P​rocedures for all scholarships linked at the top of this page prior to applying)

Important! You will only have one opportunity to create and finish this application. Please have your transcript, essays, or any other materials ready before you begin. If you close out of the form before you hit the final submit button (“Save & Submit”) or if you remain on any form for more than 20 minutes, your work may be lost. If you are copying and pasting from another document, please “paste as plain text” to avoid errors due to formatting. 

Scholarshi​p Application​ 

$4,000 Scholarships ​

Please refer to the $4,0​00 Scholarship Guidelines​​ for eligibility criteria. 

$4,000 scholarships (paid out in one lump sum) will be awarded in the following categories:

  • ​​Students graduating high school
  • ​Students enrolled in a NYWEA student chapter at a college/university
  • Children of NYWEA members​

Application deadline: February 28th at 5 PM Eastern Time

Scholarship Ap​plication

Important! You will only have one opportunity to create and finish this application. Please have your transcript, essays, or any other materials ready before you begin. If you close out of the form before you hit the final submit button (“Save & Submit”) or if you remain on any form for more than 20 minutes, your work may be lost. If you are copying and pasting from another document, please “paste as plain text” to avoid errors due to formatting.

Read about Scholarship Success Stories​

N.G. Kaul Memorial Scholarship:

N.G. Kaul was a highly respected engineer, an immigrant from India who fulfilled the American dream of opportunity realized. He had a distinguished career in public service, first with New York City and then with the New York State DEC, rising to the position of Director of the Division of Water in 1992. That service was capped off, upon his retirement in 2002, by his appointment as Director of the USEPA effort to implement the dredging of PCB-polluted sediments in the Hudson River. He died in February 2004.

The N.G. Kaul Memorial Scholarship Fund will be offering up to $5,000 in scholarships to students pursuing graduate or doctoral degrees in environmental/civil engineering or environmental science concentrating on water quality, who show a commitment to government service.

Updates:​

Application deadline is February 28th at 5 PM Eastern Time


Applicants ​must provide:

  • Scholarship Application
  • Two (2) requested essays (see page 2 of the PDF form), essays must be typed.
  • Letters of recommendation (minimum of two)
  • Official transcript
  • Your resume or C.V.

Submit the completed application and documents listed above, no later than February 28 at 5 PM Eastern Time to Maggie Simpson, Scholarship Program Administrator, at msimpson@nywea.org. Official transcripts and letters of recommendation should be mailed to:

N.G. Kaul Memorial Scholarship Fund
New York Water Environment Association
ATTN: Maggie Simpson
525 Plum Street, Suite 102
Syracuse, NY 13204

Scholarship Policy and Procedures:

N.G. Kaul Memorial Scholarships will be awarded based on the following criteria:

  1. Interest in Government Service (essay): Demonstrates a commitment to pursue a career in government service
  2. Career Objective (essay): Relevance of career objective to the environmental field related to water quality
  3. Academic Potential: Grade Point Average and difficulty of courses taken
  4. Other Activities: Activities in programs and organizations demonstrating leadership abilities, and
  5. Character: Demonstrates an overall sense of good moral character and citizenship

Jim Anderson Memorial Scholarship:

Scholarship Instructions & Criteria for Applicants

Jim Anderson was a Senior Vice President and the Director of Technology at Metcalf & Eddy | AECOM. In these roles, Jim was responsible for M&E’s research program and for the continued development of M&E’s textbooks, including the recently published Water Reuse book. The publication ENR described Jim as “an engineer’s engineer” and “one of the world’s acknowledged leaders in water and wastewater treatment plant engineering.”

Jim was a strong advocate for training and mentoring young environmental engineers, consistent with M&E’s commitment to meaningfully contribute to the development of engineering professionals as envisioned by Leonard Metcalf and Harrison P. Eddy over 100 years ago. He conceived of Metcalf and Eddy’s annual Student Design Competition, which challenges university students to tackle real-life design problems from the consulting world. Throughout his career, Jim was an active participant in career fairs and mock interview nights at his alma mater, The Cooper Union. He also developed close working relationships with universities and established successful research collaborations with many of them.

Jim died early in 2006 after battling cancer, but his legacy of mentorship and forward-thinking engineering continues to live on in the New York engineering community.

The Jim Anderson Memorial Scholarship will offer one $1,250 scholarship annually to students attending school in the NYC Metropolitan area.

Instructions for Applicants

  1. Fill out the entire application form . Be sure to type in the fillable form and it is very important that you do not leave any fields blank. If it is not applicable, fill in N/A
  2. Letter verifying enrollment or acceptance in a New York Metro Area undergraduate or graduate environmental program on college stationary.
  3. Attach Letters of Recommendation (two).
  4. Attach an official transcript.
  5. Attach requested essays (two).
  6. Mail to: NYWEA, 525 Plum Street, Suite 102, Syracuse, NY 13204
  7. Submit your completed application no later than February 28 at 5 PM. Awards will be announced by June 30th.

​NYWEA Student Members

  • Applicants must be enrolled in a BS or BE full-time engineering program with a focus on environmental issues, particularly water/wastewater in the New York City Metro Area. Such programs could include but are not limited to:
    • Environmental Engineering
    • Civil Engineering with an environmental emphasis
    • Chemical or Mechanical Engineering with an environmental emphasis
  • A student in good standing at a college or university who will be a Junior, Senior or Graduate student in the upcoming academic year.

Lucy Grassano Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship is named after Lucy Grassano, who was a Principal Administrative Assistant at NYCDEP. She was a mentor, friend, teacher, and “mother” to many operations staff throughout the years. Everyone needs a coach, it is in this spirit, that these scholarships are granted in her name. 

This scholarship is offered each year to one certified operator from each of NYWEA’s chapters to subsidize the cost of attending the NYWEA Annual Meeting in New York City. 

Visit Operator Certification page​ for more information on Operator Scholarships​

Avril D. Woodhead Grit Scholarship

Grit is the ability of an individual to overcome challenges, maintain effort and engage interest despite failure (Duckworth et al., 2007). Resilience has been described as the ability of the individual “to bounce back” and to remain optimistic in difficult situations (Wicks, 2010). Dr. Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Ted Talk presenter noted that “grit” predicts success more reliably than talent or IQ, and that anyone, at any age, can learn to cultivate grit through experience, focus and hope.

This scholarship was created in Dr. Avril D. Woodhead’s name, as she exemplified the characteristics of grit in both her personal and professional life. Born in 1930 and growing up during WWII, Avril caught rheumatic fever twice leaving her unable to walk. But, with the love of her mother and countless hours of gritty effort she regained her mobility. She went on to have a highly successful life beginning with her early work collaborating with Dr. Alex Comfort on cell aging, to later publishing in the Journal Nature and being featured in the NY Times science section (Dec 20, 1989) for her breakthrough work on malignant melanoma. Dr. Woodhead retired shortly after her 85th birthday and lived until she was 90! This scholarship is for persons 17 or older recipients of this scholarship would be persons who identify as female, or are nonbinary, and have demonstrated grit as shown through maintaining effort and interest despite setbacks as they work towards their goals, and are interested in, or already participating in, a STEM field.​

View Additional Information & Guidelines​

 Application form

Deadline February 28, 5 PM Eastern.