Galveston, TEXAS - American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) presented four engineering scholarships to Texas A&M University at Galveston students at a luncheon reception on Friday, September 21, 2007.

This year's recipients of the ABS Rising Junior and Senior Engineering Scholars Program are junior Matt Woods, junior Christopher Rabalais, senior April Spiller and senior Pedro Guzman.

ABS Assistant Chief Surveyor, Bob Wise, and Sr. Human Resources Representative, Kim Blasingame, made the scholarship presentations. The scholarships, which recognize students who demonstrate the achievement and leadership ability to successfully pursue careers in the area of engineering and naval architecture relating to ships and offshore energy structures, were for $10,000 each. Mr. Woods and Mr. Rabalais are Marine Engineering Technology majors.  Mr. Guzman and Ms. Spiller are Maritime Systems Engineering majors.

Vice-President and CEO, Dr. Bowen Loftin, congratulated the awardees and thanked ABS for their generosity. "I thank ABS for taking the initiative to address the shortage of qualified people in the maritime industry.  These scholarships will allow us to recruit and retain our very best students.  It is a win-win-win situation - a win for the students, a win for ABS, and a win for this institution."