Google has a new addition to their scholarship family called the Google Student Veterans of America (SVA) Scholarship. In partnering with the non-profit Student Vererans of America (SVA) Google will help provide veterans with all the resources, support, and advocacy they need to succeed. The scholarship is available for the 2012-2013 academic year for student veterans who are pursuing degrees in computer science and related fields.
The goals of the Google-SVA Scholarship are to:
*To identify high-performing student veterans in the Computer Science field, and to reward achievement and encourage further study through the scholarship program.
*To affect the retention of student veterans in the Computer Science field by providing recognition and funds needed for university expenses, such as tuition, books and lab fees.
*To help foster communities of students through Google sponsored events like the Annual Scholars’ Retreats, which is an all-expenses paid retreat for that year’s scholarship winners. It enables top students from across the U.S. network with each other and with Google engineers in a fun environment.
Dan Cross, Software Engineer for Google, states that “Google’s commitment to military veterans extends beyond our educational outreach efforts. The Google Veterans Network, one of our 18 employee groups dedicated to supporting diversity and inclusion at Google, fosters a community of support for our military veterans, reservists, guardsmen, family members and friends.” In 2011, Google introduced a job search engine called the Veterans Job Bank in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as launching Chrome for Wounded, Ill and Injured Warriors.
Google Creative Lab also partnered with members of their veterans’ community to create Google for Veterans and Families, a new resource that brings together their free products and platforms for service members and their families. Cross says that, “As a Google engineer and a Marine veteran, I’m proud of our commitment to diversity and of our efforts to bring other veterans into the world of technology and computer science.”
The deadline to apply for the Google SVA Scholarship is March 15, 2012.
For complete scholarship details, visit Google’s scholarship programs page.