Tennessee Tech engineering student awarded U.S. Department of Defense ‘SMART’ scholarship
Tennessee Tech electrical engineering major Jack Bender, a junior from Franklin, Tenn.,
is the latest recipient of the U.S. Department of Defense SMART scholarship, which
will cover the full cost of his tuition for the upcoming year and includes guaranteed
civilian employment with the DoD following his graduation.
Tennessee Tech University electrical engineering major Jack Bender is one smart student, but don’t take his word for it – just ask the U.S. Department of Defense.
Bender, a junior from Franklin, Tenn., is the latest recipient of the elite Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarship from the Department of Defense’s Scholarships-for-Service program.
The scholarship covers the full cost of Bender’s tuition for the upcoming year, along with a generous annual stipend, internship and guaranteed civilian employment with the Department of Defense after graduation. Since the program’s launch in 2006, only about 5,200 scholarships have been awarded nationwide.
At 25, Bender enrolled at Tech as a transfer student with more life experience than many of his peers. A husband and father, he was already thinking ahead to his post-college career when John Caleb “J.C.” Williams, a graduate assistant in Tech's College of Engineering, introduced him to the SMART scholarship opportunity and encouraged him to apply.
Bender said he was “shocked” to learn he had received the award.
“It really means a lot to me,” he said. “In my academic journey, it’s the biggest thing that has happened to me. This scholarship really opens doors for me to pursue what I’m interested in while providing for my family the best I can.”
Bender’s scholarship will soon take him to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense
Command’s Technical Center in Huntsville, Alabama— a role he sees as an opportunity
to “be a part of something bigger.”
Jack Bender pictured with his wife, Jolie, and daughter, Odelia.
“I’d really like for my work to be in service to other people,” he said. “I’m sure you can find that in a lot of jobs but, for me, I see that so prominently in the Department of Defense. I’m a patriot, and I think it’s really cool to work for my country and know that what I’m doing will benefit the people of America.”
Bender credits the support of fellow students and faculty at Tech, particularly Indranil Bhattacharya, interim chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with helping him succeed.
“Tennessee Tech has opened my eyes to all the possibilities and what it means to be an engineer,” said Bender. “Dr. Bhattacharya, specifically, has been very helpful in so many different areas—a person to talk to, a person to be encouraged by. He is really intentional with his students, and that has gone a long way in making me feel empowered to shoot for more.”
As for what his future career with the Department of Defense might hold, Bender says his goals are straightforward.
“I just want to be able to pursue my interests while protecting our nation and supporting my family,” he said. “Tech has felt like a place that’s giving me the opportunities and the confidence to believe my future is that of an electrical engineer, and I can make a difference with that.”
Learn more about the SMART scholarship at www.smartscholarship.org.