AME alum celebrates family legacy at the 2025 Scholarship Reception
Robert (Bob) Rutherford is a 1978 aerospace engineering alum and former Navy fighter pilot. He holds the 2019 College of Engineering Professional Achievement Award and the 2021 Mentor of the Year recognition.
The University of Arizona's annual scholarship reception celebrates both donors and students.
Aerospace engineering alum Bob Rutherford, who graduated in 1978, joined the event to present the Benjamin W. Cowperthwait Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is named after Rutherford's grandfather and was endowed by his mother. Rutherford's grandfather entered the engineering field by way of the electrical power industry and became a self-made person without a degree.
“He always felt a bit of shame that he never got a college education,” Rutherford explained. “He was a fantastic engineer, but he did not have a piece of paper, so I convinced my mother to name this scholarship after him.”
The Cowperthwait scholarship supports nontraditional students like Pablo Luna Falcon, who graduated with a bachelor’s last December.
Falcon transferred from Pima Community College to become a mechanical engineer and was recognized by the W.A Franke Honors College as the Outstanding Transfer Student in his graduating class.
“Thanks to engineering scholarship donors, I had the opportunity of doing so much more than classes. I developed professional and technical skills while working with talented research groups within and outside the U of A,” he said.