Penn State alumni from the national professional chemistry fraternity Alpha Chi Sigma recently endowed $1.5 million to the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the Eberly College of Science.

Most of those members earned their degrees from these colleges. Each $500,000 fund will support scholarships for undergraduates with financial needs and academic excellence.

The scholarships were funded by the sale of the Alpha Chi Sigma house at 406 S. Pugh Street, which housed more than a thousand members between 1911 and 2009. The three scholarships celebrate notable chapter alumni Fred Nicholas, Mary L. Willard, and John Matternas. The scholarship will be named in honor of the chapter’s successful alumni for contributing to the relationship between students and professionals in chemical sciences.

The Nu Chapter Alumni of Alpha Chi Sigma Fred Nicholas Scholarship Fund in the College of Engineering is dedicated to the late State College contractor and developer who earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Penn State in the 1940s.

“On behalf of the roughly 10,000 current undergraduate engineering students at Penn State and the tens of thousands that will come through our college in the years ahead, I want to thank the Nu Chapter for this wonderful gift,” dean of the College of Engineering Justin Schwartz said.

The Nu Chapter Alumni of Alpha Chi Sigma Mary L. Willard Scholarship Fund in the Eberly College of Science is dedicated to the first female member of Alpha Chi Sigma with notable work in microscopy and forensic science. Willard earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Penn State in the 1920s and worked as a Penn State faculty member.

“Such unrestricted scholarships are exceedingly rare, and this commitment gives us much-needed flexibility to address student need and support them to succeed,” said Tracy Langkilde, dean of the Eberly College of Science.

The Nu Chapter Alumni of Alpha Chi Sigma John Matternas Scholarship Fund in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences is dedicated to the 1947 chemistry graduate who worked in the insurance industry.

“As the next generation of scientists and engineers, our students represent what is possible for the future,” said Lee Kump, dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.