2002-2003 scholarship Awardees
 

The IAEM Scholarship Commission awarded scholarships to the following three students in emergency management and related programs for the 2002-2003 school year. DRI International made a dedicated donation to fund a scholarship. Robert T. Durgin, CEM, and
Paul R. Thomas, Jr., CEM, CBCP, also provided dedicated donations.
Additional funding was provided by the IAEM Scholarship Program fund.

Scholarship Recipient Profiles

• Jason “Shane” Townsend is the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship that was provided through a dedicated grant from DRI International, an association that administers the industry’s premier global certification program for qualified business continuity and disaster recovery planners. Townsend is a
  full-time graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University
  working towards a Master of Urban and Regional Planning
  degree with a major in hazards planning. Townsend’s thesis,
  “Campus Emergency Preparedness: An Evaluation of the Preparedness Levels at Mississippi’s Colleges and Universities,” is a natural outgrowth of his work in emergency management. While pursuing his graduate planning degree, he has also worked at the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and has served as an emergency response volunteer
  with the Red Cross. Last fall, he was the recipient of FEMA’s
  Award for Service in the Attack on the Pentagon.
• Joel A. Smith is the recipient of the second $1,000 IAEM scholarship. He is an undergraduate student at Arkansas Tech
  University where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree with an Emergency Administration and Management major. In addition to his full-time studies, Smith is a Sergeant with the 61st Civil Support Team (WMD) at Camp J.T. Robinson (Arkansas Army National Guard). He has volunteered his time and expertise to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, assisting 75 counties in preparedness needs assessments.
• Timothy “Scott” Eller, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Emergency Administration and Planning from the University of North Texas, received a $500 IAEM scholarship. Eller was a member of the Spring Volunteer Fire Department for five years as a Firefighter/EMT-Basic. While at the University of North Texas, he has been active in the International Emergency Management Student Association and has served as its Public Information Officer.
• Chien-Chih Lin, a full-time student in the Crisis, Emergency
  and Risk Management Master of Science degree program offered
  by The George Washington University, received a $500 scholarship. Lin was a member of the medical response team for
  National Taiwan University Hospital. He plans on entering the
  doctoral program at GWU, with a goal to return to Taiwan and use the knowledge he gains in the U.S. to improve the Taiwanese emergency management system.