Meet a Fluid Power Scholarship Winner – Cord Akey

The NFPA Education and Technology Foundation has awarded 20 $2,500 scholarships to students pursuing fluid power related fields of study. One of the winners, Cord Akey, is attending NFPA Power Partner Purdue University. We asked Cord a few questions about winning the scholarship.

What does winning a Fluid Power Scholarship mean to you?

Winning the Fluid Power Scholarship Award is a significant achievement! As the financial burden of college is large, this award motivates me to continue pursuing my educational and career goals and contribute to the advancement of fluid power technologies. I am truly honored and blessed to receive this scholarship as I didn't think it would be possible.

Why did you choose to learn about fluid power?

I chose to learn about fluid power because it holds a vital role in present and future production agriculture. Learning about fluid power will allow me to investigate ways we can utilize the benefits of fluid power even more to follow my passion for sustaining agriculture. Developing more efficient and reliable systems for tractors, harvesters, and irrigation equipment are just a few ways we could better utilize fluid power. Also, I believe it would be amazing to use my education in this area to contribute to the development of alternative hydraulic fluids and systems that reduce environmental impact and energy consumption.

What are your career aspirations? What type of fluid power job do you hope to get after you graduate?

Following graduation, I aim to start my career and grow in a large agriculture equipment company as an engineer where I will get the opportunity to implement fluid power into my everyday job. As of now, I would like to work for a tractor company where I can utilize my knowledge to improve efficiency and sustainability. On the side, I plan to buy, raise, sell, and donate livestock to 4-Hers and other buyers as another source of income and learning opportunity. Later on in my life, a dream of mine is to own and run my own agriculture equipment company as my grandfather did, so I plan to work for this along the way.

A minimum GPA of 2.5 out of 4.0, 500-word essay, and letter of recommendation were required from each applicant. The NFPA Foundation’s goal is to help graduating high school students, and individuals enrolled in community colleges, technical schools and universities pursue their academic interests in fluid power.

One way NFPA members can get involved with scholarship programs is to volunteer as a judge to serve on the application review committee. This year 34 judges from 26 NFPA member companies reviewed 241 eligible student applications to the Fluid Power Scholarship program. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Haley Nemeth at hnemeth@nfpa.com.