SIU scholarship to go to coal-mining community students

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - Southern Illinois University has started a new scholarship program to help students affected by the upcoming closure of one of the area's biggest coal mines.

The school's Advanced Coal and Energy Research Center is offering a four-year, $5,000-a-year undergraduate Energy Boost scholarship. It will go to up to five students who enroll in the mechanical engineering department, The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reported (http://bit.ly/1T8UiYN ).

Recipients must be from high schools south of U.S. 50, including places like Lawrenceville and Olney in southeastern Illinois to the St. Louis suburbs. Transfer students also can apply. Applicants will have to write an essay about how the contracting coal industry has affected their lives.

"A lot of kids trying to attend college count on their parents' resources," said Tomasz Wiltowski, director of the center. "When parents lose their jobs, like those miners did, it's a problem."

Faculty members at the center research future energy solutions, such as cleaner coal and renewable energy sources.

American Coal Co. announced layoffs at a pair of Galatia mines last year. In November it said one of the mines, the company's New Era mine, would close in mid-2016. The company's other mine, the New Future mine, will remain open. The two mines employed about 700 people before layoffs last year.

The school will use a private $4.6 million grant to pay for the scholarships. Applications are due March 11 and winners will be announced April 6.

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Information from: Southern Illinoisan, http://www.southernillinoisan.com