Howard D. Colman Scholarship Program
Howard D. Colman was one of the most gifted American inventors of the 20th Century, though little recognized in his lifetime and all but forgotten since his death. A scientific prodigy who made his own earliest hand tools and taught himself the fundamentals of mechanics and physics, he solved the last great puzzle of textile automation as a young man and eventually launched a machine-building business that dominated the international market. He was a person of amazing conceptual abilities and uncanny insights into the dynamics of force and motion. His experiments in the fields of small motors, temperature controls, textiles, machine tools, and telecommunications earned him 149 U.S. patents and a substantial personal fortune, but practically no other type of popular recognition because of his aversion to publicity.
In 1987 Colman's eldest daughter, Ruth Colman Tower, named the Rockford Community Trust (now known as the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois) as the beneficiary of a charitable remainder trust. Upon her death that trust endowed the Howard D. Colman Memorial Scholarship. It was Ruth's desire that this award support local students who possess an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit and who are invested in supporting the Rockford community through industry. Over time what began as a scholarship has grown into a full-fledged career development program, connecting honorees with one-of-a-kind internships at local firms and providing opportunities to embody the spirit of Howard Colman as ambassadors for his legacy.
The Howard D. Colman Scholarship Program has a separate application and timeline than the majority of CFNIL Scholarships. The application opens each year on November 1st and closes January 1st. In addition to the online application, qualified finalists will participate in an in-person interview with the Howard D. Colman Selection Committee. Each year up to four recipients will be selected for the Howard D. Colman Scholarship, which includes not only a $2,500 award but also personalized placement for a local internship. Each year, one of four recipients from the prior year will be selected as the Howard D. Colman Scholar and receive a $10,000 scholarship, with the opportunity to have their award renewed for up to two additional years, as long as criteria are met. Total award over four years could be as much as $32,500. Recipients must be willing to accept full-time summer internship offers through CFNIL and make a good faith effort to return to the Rockford area after graduation. Please see full details about this scholarship program below, or log on to CFNIL's online scholarship application portal to start your application.
The Howard D. Colman has a separate application and timeline than other CFNIL scholarships. The online application opens November 1st and closes January 2nd. The application also includes more essay questions than a typical scholarship, to allow the selection committee to learn more about each applicant and their experience with and interest in innovation and industry in Rockford.
In addition to the online application, finalists will complete an in-person interview with the selection committee.
In order to be eligible for the Howard D. Colman Scholarship, the applicant must:
- Be a high school graduating senior that resides in Boone or Winnebago County,
- Major in engineering, computer science, applied science, or a comparable technology field,
- Have a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0, and
- Personify the innovative spirit of Howard D. Colman: local students with an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit who are invested in supporting the Rockford community through industry.
In addition, applicants will be considered based on their:
- Demonstrated connection and commitment to the Rockford region,
- Willingness to commit the next four summers to doing a 20-30 hour per week internship, and
- Willingness to take at least one local internship, ideally in the first year of the program.
Each year up to four students will be selected for the Howard D. Colman Scholarship, a $2,500 award, and provided with personalized placement at a local firm for an internship in engineering, computer science, applied science, or a comparable technology field.
Each year one of the previous year's four scholarship recipients will be selected as the Howard D. Colman Scholar and receive a $10,000 scholarship which is renewable up to two times provided program criteria continue to be met. The student also has the opportunity to continue their internships up to three more years. The remaining three students may receive a one-time honorarium award.
Criteria for selection as the Howard D. Colman Scholar include those listed above in addition to positive evaluation from the student's internship supervisor and positive program participation review from FurstStaffing and CFNIL representatives.
CFNIL works with FurstStaffing to facilitate internship placements. Past placements include: University of Illinois – Chicago College of Medicine at Rockford, Leading Edge Hydraulics, Raytheon Technologies, Woods Equipment, and the City of Rockford.
All scholarship recipients will complete in-person orientations with CFNIL and FurstStaffing to establish expectations about communication, internship responsibilities, and more. The Colman Scholar will receive additional training about being an ambassador for CFNIL and the Howard D. Colman Scholarship Program.
The 2022 recipients, their families, former Barber-Colman managers, CFNIL trustees and volunteers, community leaders, and descendants of Colman himself enjoyed a beautiful evening in the shadow of the company which bears Colman's name and which represents the exceptional history of innovation in manufacturing for which Rockford is known. We are excited to see what every Colman Scholarship recipient will accomplish, and to see the redevelopment of the Barber-Colman campus unfold.
Howard D. Colman
1873 - 1942
Howard D. Colman was one of the most gifted American inventors of the 20th Century, though little recognized in his lifetime and all but forgotten since his death. A scientific prodigy who made his own earliest hand tools and taught himself the fundamentals of mechanics and physics, he solved the last great puzzle of textile automation as a young man and eventually launched a machine-building business that dominated the international market. He was a person of amazing conceptual abilities and uncanny insights into the dynamics of force and motion. His experiments in the fields of small motors, temperature controls, textiles, machine tools, and telecommunications earned him 149 U.S. patents and a substantial personal fortune, but practically no other type of popular recognition because of his aversion to publicity.
Unlike Edison who actively promoted himself and his inventions, Colman went to great lengths to avoid attention, refusing to allow his photograph to appear in newspapers, arranging his workday so that it limited the possibilities of outside interruption, and even building a one-room “penthouse” on the roof of his factory to allow him to be close to his work.
Howard D. Colman’s career as an inventor and entrepreneur spanned more than half a century of American life. He grew up, in the 1880s, when there was still a strong handicraft tradition in this country and artisans did mechanical job-work as a way of making ends meet; and he died, during the Second World War, when the United States had become the largest urban industrial nation on earth, with an armaments program incorporating the advance technologies of mass production and a highly-organized research community involved in the exploration of the new sciences of digital computing, jet propulsion, and applied atomic physics.
A scholarship honoring Howard D. Colman was established by Ruth Colman Tower, Howard Colman’s oldest daughter. In 1987, Mrs. Tower named the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois the beneficiary of a charitable remainder trust. It was her desire that, upon her death, this trust would endow the Howard D. Colman Memorial Scholarship.
Biographic information about Howard Colman available in Master Inventor – How Howard Colman Created a Multi-National Corporation, written by Jon Lundin, copyright 2006. Master Inventor is available for purchase at the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois. $10 from each copy sold benefits the Howard D. Colman Memorial Fund of the Community Foundation’s Community Needs Fund.
Questions about the Howard D. Colman Scholarship Program? Contact Sarah!
