The Memorial Scholarship Awards were initiated in 1996 shortly after the death of Irene Epstein to honor her volunteer efforts to assist financially needy, academically deserving students. The scholarship was initiated at Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) in order to assist graduating seniors to attend college to study engineering, science, mathematics, or medicine. The scholarships have been recently expanded to include the Girls Academic Leadership Academy (GALA) in Los Angeles.
The Scholarship Awards program was initially funded by contributions from The Aerospace Corporation and SAMPE. It is also supported by the Air Force Space Systems Manufacturing Problem Prevention Program (MP3).
The program is administered by Dr. Howard A. Katzman, Senior Scientist at The Aerospace Corporation, and Education Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter of SAMPE.
Many individuals and companies have generously contributed to help the fund grow so the amount of the scholarship awards has increased five-fold since it started. In addition, a special Book Awards was introduced three years ago to help selected students in the purchase of their college textbooks.
The year 2021 Scholarships awardees are:
Grace Kim
Grace Lee
Ashley Chang
Humairah Djafar
Raquel Bravo
Tora Hoar Vea
Angela Cui
Students receiving Book Awards are:
Kaia Thompson
Zooey Gastelo
Sophia Lemus
Kahlila Williams
To contribute to the scholarship fund, endorse your check to SAMPE Los Angeles Chapter and send to:
The George and Irene Epstein Memorial Scholarship Fund
c/o SAMPE Los Angeles Chapter, Dr. Clement Hiel
767 Channel Street,
San Pedro, CA 90731