Meridee Burnett of Bryant, a freshman information science major in UALR’s College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT), has received a Department of Defense SMART Scholarship that includes tuition and fees, internships and cash awards.

The SMART – Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transportation – Scholarship offers full tuition and education-related fees, paid summer internships, health insurance reimbursements, book allowances of $1,000 per academic year, mentoring, and employment placement after graduation.

“That Meridee Burnett has received a scholarship of the stature of the U.S. Department of Defense’s SMART Scholarship speaks very highly of her personal achievement and potential as well as to the quality of the Information Quality program we’ve built over the last four years in the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology at UALR,” said Dr. Mary Good, dean of EIT.

An internship in summer 2011 with the U.S. Army on the island of Oahu in Hawaii will be just one of the many educational and professional opportunities the SMART Scholarship will provide.

“Everyone in the Information Science Department is thrilled that Meridee Burnett has been awarded this prestigious scholarship,” said Dr. Elizabeth Pierce, associate professor and chair of the Department of Information Science. “Besides the immediate benefits it will give her – tuition, fees, a cash stipend, books and more – it will open doors that will help her achieve even more in the years and decades to come. Post-graduation employment placement will help ensure a bright future for Meridee and the other number of other worthy SMART recipients.”

Burnett, a 2009 graduate of Bryant High School, is the daughter of Fred and Karla Burnett of Bryant.

“I chose UALR because … they are the only school in the state to offer a minor in Information Assurance, which is what attracted me into the technology field to begin with,” Burnett said.

UALR is the first and only institution in Arkansas to have the designation at a National Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAE), a designation issued by the National Security Agency and the Central Security Service, America’s crypto logic organization that coordinates highly specialized activities to protect U.S. government information systems.

“My career goal is to work with information assurance,” Burnett said. “I want to work with the military, and this scholarship provides me an opportunity to work for the Department of Defense.

Scholarship benefits include:

• Full tuition and education related fees (does not include items such as meal plans, housing, or parking).
• Cash award paid at a rate of $25,000 – $41,000 depending on prior educational experience (may be prorated depending on award length).
• Paid summer internships.
• Health Insurance reimbursement allowance up to $1,200 per calendar year.
• Book allowance of $1,000 per academic year.
• Mentoring.
• Employment placement after graduation.

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