ISE Major Awarded Prestigious Lockheed Martin STEM Scholarship
Rising junior Joel Chon is one of 100 recipients of the 2024 Lockheed Martin STEM Scholarship.
“This scholarship represents a significant milestone in my academic and career journey at Rutgers,” says Chon. “With the financial support and career development opportunities it provides, I can focus on acquiring technical skills and excelling in my coursework during my last two undergraduate years, without the added stress of financial concerns.”
While Lockheed Martin established the national scholarship program in 2018 to foster educational pathways into STEM careers for all computer science and engineering undergraduate students, a particular focus is on supporting students from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in STEM fields.
Awardees of the highly competitive, annually renewable $10,000 scholarship are selected on the basis of academic merit, extracurricular activities, work experience, and financial need. They are eligible for recruitment for possible internship and employment opportunities by Lockheed Martin.
An Outstanding Student
“Joel Chon is an outstanding student whose inclusion among a highly selective group of STEM students is a positive reflection of the School of Engineering’s dedication to providing an exceptional educational experience that blends academic rigor with opportunities for real world training,” says Professor Mohsen Jafari who also serves as the industrial and systems engineering (ISE) department chair “Lockheed Martin has long been an important partner to Rutgers Engineering and many ISE alumni are pursuing careers at the company.”
Chon, who boasts a 3.95 GPA, was attracted to ISE because of its practicality and infinite career possibilities. “I wanted to pursue a major that offers flexibility and allows me to explore my interests in physics, mathematics, statistics, and data science,” he explains.
This summer, as a data analyst intern at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Albany, New York, he has been developing a system to track and quantify the company’s material destructions. “It’s enabled me to leverage my skills in Excel, Python, SQL, and Power BI to optimize an inefficient process and make a meaningful impact within a large company,” he reports.
According to Chon, he has especially enjoyed taking the lead and moving his project in a data analytics direction within a collaborative, congenial environment. “I’ve been allowed to work cross-functionally and network with senior leadership to gain invaluable industry experience,” he states.
His Regeneron internship builds on skills and knowledge acquired during a 2023 summer business operations internship at Andrena, and a prior immersive Business Leadership Program externship with Synchrony.
After he graduates in 2026, he says he plans to pursue a career in data science, data analytics, or operations research. “I’m also considering pursuing a master’s degree in ISE data science, or operations research after gaining industry experience.”
