The WIA Foundation Scholarship

Women in Aerospace (WIA) is dedicated to increasing the leadership capabilities and visibility of women in the aerospace community. Our membership – open to everyone – shares an interest in a broad spectrum of aerospace issues, including human space flight, aviation, remote sensing, satellite communications, robotic space exploration, and policy issues surrounding these fields.

The WIA Foundation is pleased to provide scholarships to those who identify as women, who are interested in a career in the aerospace field to pursue higher education degrees in engineering, math or science. Four merit-based awards of $5,000 each will be given to rising juniors and seniors in college, to be applied to the 2026-2027 academic year.

How to Apply*

To complete the application, each candidate must:

Complete the application
Submit High school and college transcripts
Provide two letters of recommendation from a professor, or a supervisor of summer or Co-op work experience, or a supervisor of research work. Recommendations from relatives will not be accepted.
Submit a 500-1000 word essay responding to the following: “Imagine that you are trying to explain to someone with no interest in aerospace why aerospace is important. How would approach this explanation and what would you say?"

Additional Eligibility Criteria

The sponsor has specified that the scholarship has the following additional eligibility criteria, or focus.

Eligibility Criteria

Minimum college grade point average (GPA) of not less than the equivalent of 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale
Must have completed at least one and a half academic years of full-time college work at the time of application
must be currently enrolled at an accredited college or university in the United States or its territories, working towards a bachelor’s degree, and plan to continue to be enrolled in the subsequent academic year
Interested in pursuing a career in the aerospace field
Entering junior or senior year in the 2026-2027 academic year
Must be female, and a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident

Please review the scholarship website for full criteria.

Eligibility Verification As part of the selection process, each chosen scholarship recipient is required to submit a signed scholarship agreement letter, which stipulates that the recipient will use scholarship funds only for her education and will return any unused funds to the Foundation. The Women in Aerospace Foundation, Inc. will confirm the scholarship winner’s enrollment in an accredited college or university directly with the institution’s registrar. Once enrollment has been confirmed, the Foundation will pay the scholarship by check directly to the winners’ institutions during the fall of 2026.

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