On July 1, the Roberto Rocca Education Program capped its 2009 Scholarship awards in Argentina with an event to honor students from three universities in or near Buenos Aires. The ceremony, along with similar ceremonies in 14 universities in the rest of the country, represented the culmination of a year in which the Program awarded 71 new Scholarships and renewed 242 in Argentina.

In his opening remarks to the students from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Tecnnológica Nacional Buenos Aires and the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Program Director Dan Krishock stated that in spite of the current economic situation the 2009 awards were a reaffirmation of the sponsoring companies’ long-term commitment to contributing to social development in countries in which they operate. He also announced that starting August 2009 the Program would modify its eligibility criteria to allow advanced undergraduate students, and not just first-year students, apply for Scholarships.

Guillermo Hang, President of the Techint Organization, delivered the award certificate to Juan Manuel Ranalli, who was one of this year’s Roberto Rocca Fellowship awardees and who will start in September his doctorate in Metallurgy in Birmingham University, in the UK.

Another highlight of the event was the address by Gabriel Lerech, the first Roberto Rocca Scholarship student in Argentina to graduate. Thanking the Program sponsors for the five years of support he received, Lerech, who received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the UTN, Buenos Aires, said: “I am very satisfied to see new faces. I want to tell you that the future is in your hands”.

The students also heard from Gustavo Castelluccio, a 2008 Roberto Rocca Fellow, currently undertaking a Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in the US. Castellucio told the students: “I have a Fellowship envied by my peers from other countries.”

Finally, Andrés Crespo Pudor, a 2007 Scholarship winner, spoke on behalf of all the Program’s current Argentine Scholarship students. “The Scholarship that we received is a way to fulfill our dream of creating a future for ourselves, doing what we like most. Congratulations to the new 2009 Roberto Rocca Scholarships,” he said.