United States Cutting Tool Institute Committees

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USCTI Scholarship Program

Scholarship Recipient Winners

2023
Dana Starr, US Tool Group

2022
Nicholas Barnes, Everede Tool Company

2021
Kaylee Dudek, Allied Machine & Engineering
Autumn Ohl, OSG USA, Inc.
Aaron Phalphouvong, Swiss Tek Coatings

2020
Kyle Townsend, OSG USA, Inc.
Angie Willis, Greenfield Industries

Scholarship Recipient Testimonials

Autumn Ohl, OSG USA, Inc.
2021 Scholarship Recipient Winner

I heard about this scholarship through my dad, Brent Ohl, who works at OSG Tool & Die which is a partnering company under USCTI. I was looking for scholarships during my senior year of high school, and my dad reached out to some people within his company in which they sent back this opportunity. The money that I received from the scholarship went into paying for part of my first semester of college at Kent State University, where I am majoring in Aerospace Engineering.

This was a pretty big big award, so having received it will make funding my education much more accessible in the future. Being awarded this scholarship was great in helping me out financially, but the biggest takeaway from earning the scholarship was being able to attend USCTI's 2021 Fall Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. This was really the first time that I was able to directly connect with people from industry and interact with "the professional world". Attending this conference, I sat in on meetings about economic outlooks into the following year, ways to bring people into the industry, and other discussions that gave me a broad perspective of how things operate within the cutting tool industry.

When returning from the conference, I received an email from a journalist that works for Cutting Tool Engineering Magazine about wanting to interview me about my experiences with this scholarship. Being interviewed for a magazine was an entirely new experience, but one that was very rewarding. When that article was released I posted about it on my LinkedIn page, where I had recently connected with everyone I met in San Antonio, and my first boss, Kevin Johnson, commented.

Kevin congratulated me on winning the scholarship, my experience, and asked me if I had any interest in interning with his company, Fischer Special Tooling. I accepted his offer, and worked in his shop during the summer of 2022. This internship opportunity was huge for me, and gave me real, hands-on, engineering and manufacturing experiences. These skills have now led me to being offered many other internship opportunities for the upcoming semesters, to which I am very grateful for. These opportunities that I am currently being offered, in my opinion, would not be possible without having won the 2021 USCTI scholarship. All of the things that I have learned from earning this award, and the knowledge that I have gained, have allowed me to make huge strides in progressing within my professional career.

As part of our mission to represent, promote, and expand the U.S. cutting tool industry, we are offering a scholarship to attract students to the profession and to encourage existing USCTI member employees to deepen their commitment to their careers. We will award one scholarship annually, in the amount of $5,000, to an employee of a USCTI member company or a student nominated by a USCTI member. The scholarship must be put toward a furthering of education in a field of study relevant to the U.S. cutting tool/manufacturing industry from an accredited two-year or four-year institution or program. The scholarship will be based on academic performance, written essay, and referral from the USCTI member company and/or school.

Eligibility: Eligible scholarship recipients are: 1) high school seniors who will enter a college or a vocational school program in the fall or who are already enrolled in a program, or 2) an employee of a USCTI member company seeking additional training. Family members of a member of the USCTI Scholarship Committee or the USCTI Board of Directors are not eligible. The USCTI Scholarship Committee will narrow the candidates to three to present to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors will select the scholarship candidate during the Spring Institute meeting. The chosen applicant will be notified after the meeting.

A scholarship recipient must remain enrolled and attend classes through the academic year, and receive passing grades. Failure to do so may result in loss of scholarship and a requirement to pay back funds. To ensure compliance with this requirement, the scholarship recipient must provide USCTI staff with a certified copy of his or her transcript as soon as possible after each grading cycle.

Qualified Programs: Any two-year or four-year college program or vocational school which has engineering or technical programs applicable to the cutting tool industry. Preference will be given to students who are taking technical, industrial arts, or engineering courses, but are open to other programs if nominated by a USCTI member.

Download additional USCTI Scholarship information below.

2023 scholarship applications have been closed. The application for 2024 scholarship recipients will be available coming this Fall. Check back for further information and the 2023 scholarship winners.