Supporting Current and Future Students with the I Love Math Scholarship
“Meeting the students who have benefited from our scholarship has been incredibly rewarding, and it wasn’t something we expected to be able to do when we committed to an estate gift,” said Penn State graduate Carlos Alves about the I Love Math Scholarship, which has been supporting math majors since 2023.
Alves received master’s and doctoral degrees in mathematics from the Eberly College of Science in 1980 and 1985, and his wife, Donna, received a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the College of Engineering in 1984. As a way to give back to the colleges that shaped their growth as scientists, they made an estate commitment that will ultimately support several scholarships and programs across both colleges. A special match program at the end of the last campaign allowed the Eberly College to begin awarding the I Love Math Scholarship early and the Alves to see the impact of their gift now. To date, the scholarship has supported a total of nine full-time students with financial need who are majoring in mathematics in the college.
“With this scholarship, we wanted to ensure that a student receives enough support to really make a difference in their lives, so they can focus on their studies and not have to work so many hours outside of school,” said Donna Alves. “It has been a joy to meet some of the students who have benefited from our scholarship, to read their heartfelt thank-you letters and to hear directly about the impact it has made in their lives.”
Among the students who have benefited from this scholarship so far is Abigail Littlefield, a fourth-year math major.
“I love the wide variety of math courses available at Penn State and have enjoyed exploring different types of math,” she said. “I am really grateful to have received the I Love Math Scholarship, which has helped cover the cost of out-of-state tuition.”
Both Carlos and Donna Alves expressed their appreciation for the graduate assistantships that supported them during their time at Penn State. For this scholarship, however, they chose to focus on supporting undergraduate students in need at an earlier point in their academic career.
“I served on the faculty at both the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the College of New Jersey, and my interaction with undergraduate students made me realize how much they were working these days to be able to afford tuition as well as the negative impact that working too many hours has on their academics,” Carlos Alves said. “We hope the scholarship will allow students to focus on their studies and enjoy their time at Penn State.”
For the Alves, their years at Penn State provided not only important skills for their careers, but also lifelong friends.
“Donna and I both loved our time at Penn State, and not just because we met each other,” Carlos Alves said. “We worked hard, but we also had a lot of fun. I am originally from Portugal, and this was my first experience in the United States. I really appreciated the camaraderie among the graduate students in math at the time. We really tried to help and support each other, and it made the whole experience very enjoyable.”
Donna Alves said her time at Penn State provided important life skills to set her up for a successful career at DuPont, where she held positions in global management and sales as well as technical roles.
“Those two years made a huge difference in my life,” she said. “They helped me grow in confidence as a person and made me capable of going out in the world and succeeding at business. I was able to take on new roles and find new things to challenge me throughout my career.”
The Alves also hope the I Love Math Scholarship will help encourage students from a variety of backgrounds who might not otherwise be able to afford degrees in mathematics to continue in the field.
“When a student doesn’t see someone like themselves in their field, if they feel like they don’t fit in that world, they aren’t going to enter it, and that’s a great loss for everyone,” Carlos Alves said. “If we never address that it isn’t an equal playing field for everyone, it’s never going to become an equal playing field. So, we want to encourage students with the ability and desire to pursue mathematics and other STEM careers.”
The Alves family was able to take advantage of a special incentive program from the dean at the end of the University’s last campaign that allowed a portion of their estate commitment to be activated by the college immediately.
“The I Love Math Scholarship is a powerful example of the transformative power of philanthropy, alleviating financial stress to allow students to focus on their studies,” said Tracy Langkilde, dean of the Eberly College of Science.
The result of this initiative is similar to the early activation of an estate gift, which allows donors to experience the joy of seeing their generosity in action before the estate gift has been realized. Any donor can choose to make a pledge to early activate their estate gift, regardless of when the initial commitment was made.
“We are grateful to all our donors, including the Alves family, who make a difference in our students’ lives in a variety of ways,” Langkilde said. “By activating an estate gift early, donors get to see the immediate impact of their gift—changing lives today while building a legacy for the future.”
To learn more about how to support students and other initiatives in the Eberly College of Science, contact Michael Weyandt, senior director of development and alumni relations at mjw134@psu.edu or (814) 863-1247.