2019 SIA Student Travel Scholarship recipients Siobahn Osgood, left, and Maria Gimenez Prades, right, with scholarship committee chair Patrick Harshbarger after presentation of the scholarship checks at the 2019 Annual Business Meeting in June in Chicago.

The recipients of the 2019 Society for Industrial Archeology Student Travel Scholarships for the 2019 Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois were Siobhan Osgood and Maria Gimenez Prades.

 Siobhan Osgood is a Ph.D. student at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. She is currently completing a dissertation on the architecture of Ireland’s Great Northern Railway, building on already impressive record of publication and social media on Irish railway architecture.

Maria Gimenez Prades is a Ph.D. student at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. She is currently conducting independent research with the IA program at Michigan Tech related to her interest in the adaptive re-use of industrial buildings and structures. Specifically, her dissertation is on the Aliaga Thermal Power Plant in Teruel, Spain.

Each of this year’s recipients received an $800 award.

Each year the SIA offers travel scholarships to assist students offset costs associated with attending our conferences. The application is simple, consisting of letter of interest from the student and a reference from a faculty member familiar with the student and the SIA.

The scholarship program has existed for 30 years, and many former recipients have become long-term members and contributors to the organization. Scholarships are made possible by donations to a dedicated fund. A huge thanks goes out to everyone who made a contribution this year. I think you all recognize how financially difficult it can be for students these days to attend conferences. Keep the donations coming, and if you know of any students, please encourage them to apply next year.

Both Siobhan and Maria gave papers at the World Heritage paper track in the 2019 Annual Conference in Chicago.