NEWSFEED IEEE PES Scholarship Recipient Matt Cato HE IEEE POWER & ENERGY Society (PES) Scholarship Plus Initiative recognizes highly qualified electrical engineering undergraduate students with multiyear scholarships and assists in connecting them with relevant and meaningful career experiences. The goal of the program is to increase the number of well-qualified, entry-level engineers to the power and energy industry. Matt Cato from Washington State University, Pullman, recently noted that being named a PES Scholar and recognized as a Schweitzer Meritorious Scholar for the past two years has had a tremendous impact on his life, both financially and professionally. The scholarship's funds greatly reduced his financial burden, allowing him to focus on his studies. He was able to successfully run for office in Washington State University's IEEE Student Branch Chapter. Matt explained that the most exciting and unique part of this scholarship is the mentoring that recipients receive. He was provided with access to mentors such as Jackie Peer, director of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) University. With Jackie's help, Matt was able to network with employees throughout SEL. With SEL being a leader in the T Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2016.2585000 Date of publication: 2 September 2016 power protection industry, Matt was able to gain insight into various aspects of power engineering from some of the best minds in the field. The connections he made were crucial in his obtaining a position with SEL in R&D as a research power engineer intern. The experience gained during the two years of interning at SEL helped Matt obtain a full-time position as an associate protection engineer in SEL's Engineering Services group. Matt is truly grateful for all of the benefits he gained through the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative. There are multiple ways an organization or person can become involved in the program: 1) become a mentor 2) promote the program to students 3) provide a financial contribution 4) offer internship/cooperative opportunities to PES Scholars. Find out how this program is helping address the problem of the shortage of engineers in the power and energy industry by visiting the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus website (www. ee-scholarship.org). IEEE Elec trific ation Magazine / S EP T EMBE R 2 0 1 6 49http://www.ee-scholarship.org