Meet a Fluid Power Scholarship Winner – Sonnet Xu

The NFPA Education and Technology Foundation has awarded 23 $2,000 scholarships to students pursuing fluid power related fields of study.

One of the winners, Sonnet Xu, is attending Stanford University. We asked Sonnet a few questions about winning the scholarship.

What does winning a Fluid Power Scholarship mean to you?

Winning the Fluid Power Scholarship allows me to pursue my education and earn a college degree, which means that I’ll be able to take my knowledge and create solutions that I hope can one day help other people more readily. This scholarship is a recognition of what I’ve been able to do so far, but also a sign of encouragement that others hope to see my learning take fruition as well.

Why did you choose to learn about fluid power?
Fluid power has a variety of implications in fields that people don’t even realize and will have more relevance as the world has to rethink how we power the systems we rely on every day. With this type of significance, I knew that fluid power was an area that I wanted to learn about in the future, so I can understand how to leverage this field in a way that supports engineering for a more sustainable future.

What are your career aspirations? What type of fluid power job do you hope to get after you graduate?

I hope to major in computer science and apply my degree to creating systems that provide energy to support industry and residential purposes.

A minimum GPA of 2.5 out of 4.0, 500-word essay, and letter of recommendation were required from each applicant. The NFPA Foundation’s goal is to help graduating high school students, and individuals enrolled in community colleges, technical schools and universities pursue their academic interests in fluid power.

One way NFPA members can get involved with scholarship programs is to volunteer as a judge to serve on the application review committee or mentor a robotics team as they work towards incorporating pneumatics in their designs. This year 16 judges from 13 NFPA member companies reviewed 50 student applications to the Fluid Power Scholarship program. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Haley Nemeth at hnemeth@nfpa.com.