The South Texas Section Educational Program
STX spends $50,000-$100,000 per year on Educational programs. They do this by:
1) Supporting the SPE student chapters of 8 Universities in Texas. (Texas A&M University, Baylor University, University of Houston, Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, Texas State University, Lamar University, Texas State Tech at Harlingen)
a) STX gives each SPE student chapter roughly $3,000/yr in scholarships
b) STX gives each SPE student chapter roughly $1,000/yr for the student chapter
c) STX has created endowments at the schools to support students in the SPE student chapters. In the last 50 years, STX has invested $300,000 in endowments.
d) STX has provided free SPE memberships to faculty advisors of the schools we support
d) STX works with the SPE International Polyolefin Conference to identify up to 5 students from each student chapter who can participate in the conference at no charge. The Polyolefin Conference is responsible for the monetary support and activities for the students at the conference.
2) STX provides up to $15,000 in scholarships at Universities/Colleges for children of active SPE members of the STX Section.
3) STX attends the Houston Science Fair and selects deserving students with polymer related projects to receive up to $3,000 in monetary awards.
4) Depending on the year and budgets, STX has given out up to $45,000 matching polymer related equipment grants to the schools with SPE student chapters.
5) SPE students can attend South Texas Section meetings
6) Students can become SPE student members at no cost
7) A STX liaison is assigned to each school to help the faculty advisor at each school run the student chapter and to communicate the needs of each chapter to the STX Educational Committee. The STX Educational Committee (including STX liaisons) is composed of David Hansen, Steve King, Jeff Applegate, James Egbu, Edgard Chow, Jason Ball, Peter Lauzon, Michael Workman, Thomas Bell, Rommel Hariprashad, Clifford Lee, and Glendimar Molero.
8) Recently we have created small $1,800 budgets to support speakers and STX liaisons traveling to SPE student chapters
STX is the key organizer for the SPE International Polyolefins Conference. The Polyolefins Conference provides several other additional benefits for students which can be seen by clicking here.
2024 International Polyolefins Conference Scholarship Winners:
2023 International Polyolefins Conference Scholarship Winners:
Member Earned Scholarships
Children and grandchildren of active SPE-STX members are eligible for up to a $2,500 scholarship/yr.
Two scholarships per family can be received.
All qualified applicants will receive scholarships.
The requirements are:
- Children or grandchildren should be a resident of Texas (the students can be attending school outside of Texas).
- South Texas Section member must be a member of SPE and the South Texas SPE Section
- South Texas Section member must be active in the section and have attended four section events during the application year (September 2024-May 2025)
- Application period is closed.