Joby Gaines
Industrial and systems engineering majors Joby Gaines and Jacob Seals are the 2021 winners of the Roy B. Martin Scholarship, awarded annually to students in the Introduction to Engineering Entrepreneurship course who pursue an Engineering Entrepreneurship minor.
Assistant Professor of Practice Laura O’Shaughnessy teaches the EF/IE 130 class, which was previously taught by Emeritus Professor of Practice Lee Martin, nephew of the scholarship’s namesake. The 2021 recipients were recognized by O’Shaughnessy in the class’s final meeting of the spring semester.
Jacob Seals
Roy Martin, a Memphis native and 1935 UT engineering graduate, was a first-generation college student of German immigrants. His father was a machinist, and Roy attended UT to become a mechanical engineer. He worked as an HVAC engineer for years, but his entrepreneurial spirit led him to establish a successful consulting business.
Martin believed in supporting fellow entrepreneurs and engineers, so at the age of 96 he started the scholarship to support aspiring engineers pursuing and entrepreneurship minor at UT.
At least one student from the class is chosen annually to receive the scholarship of to a $1,000 per year, renewable for up to three years, with the requirement of pursuing an entrepreneurship minor. To apply, students submit an essay or slide deck describing why they want to pursue the entrepreneurship minor. This is an opportunity for future entrepreneurs to share their “why” and be rewarded.
Read more about the scholarship through the experiences of previous recipients: