Dri-Air Awards First Charles F. Sears Scholarships

Dri-Air Industries recently announced the two first recipients of the Charles F. Sears Scholarships developed in conjunction with UMass Lowell. Sears founded Dri-Air in 1985 and was president of the resin-drying equipment company until he passed away in August 2018.

Zubin Pinkham was the first recipient of the Charles F. Sears Dri-Air Industries Inc. Endowed Scholarship Fund. In 2022, he earned his master's degree in Plastics Engineering from UMass Lowell. Prior to that, he received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the school. In between those two programs he served five years as an infantryman in the U.S. Army. While serving, he was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 82nd Airborne Division, with whom he spent six months in Afghanistan.

He said, “I'd like to thank you again for your generosity and assure you that this scholarship has gone to a deserving and appreciative student.”

Since graduation, Pinkham has moved to Minneapolis, where he is currently a plastics engineer at Trane Technologies. “In my role there, I serve as a subject matter expert in plastics and support teams in new product development, procurement, and manufacturing,” he noted. He was also named the Massachusetts National Guard Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year for 2022 after winning the state’s Soldier of the Year competition in March and received a promotion to the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Ferry Irawan was selected as the second recipient of the scholarship fund and is expected to graduate UMass Lowell in 2023. 

He said, “I am honored and pleased to receive this scholarship; therefore, I want to take this time to express my gratitude for the opportunities it will provide me towards my educational journey. Your generosity and contribution are greatly appreciated. I am very fortunate to be in the position where I could conquer my dream of becoming an engineer at UMass Lowell. As someone who grew up in a less privileged community and being raised by a single mother who never finished middle school, attending college was only a pipe dream for me. Scholarship opportunities such as this one opened door for me to achieve the impossible and I am forever grateful for it.

 
“Throughout my undergraduate study at UMass Lowell and co-op experiences, I found a passion in medical device development field particularly for surgical tools as well as implants. I am very thrilled to be able to further my education at a graduate level.”