John Gray Scholarship

Empowering the Next Generation

Award Categories

John Gray Scholarship eligibility includes the following four candidate categories:

First-time IDEA meeting attendance for employees of member organizations or as designated by the Member to attend a conference.

Continuing education financial assistance for Members' children.

Education financial assistance for employees of member organizations who are seeking to upgrade their professional expertise and qualifications, including Bachelor or Associate Degree programs with accredited institutions.

Education financial assistance offered to low-income persons as a means of attracting them to the district energy industry.

View Scholarship Application

The committee kindly asks that employers or sponsors limit up to two (2) sponsored applicant submittals per year.  Award winners from prior years are kindly suggested to refrain from re-submitting in order to accommodate the largest number and most diverse applicant pool.

About the John Gray Scholarship

Established at IDEA's 100th Annual Conference in 2009, the John Gray Scholarship aims to attract and retain individuals wishing to pursue knowledge about energy in general and district energy specifically. The scholarship is offered annually to IDEA member employees and their children, or to individuals pursuing an enhancement of knowledge of district energy either through the educational opportunities at IDEA meetings or through educational programs at four-year universities in management, engineering, finance, or energy, or at two-year community colleges that offer an Associate’s Degree in power engineering.

2022 John Gray Scholarship Winners

AbdalAziz Al Ghoul: 2022 graduate of University of Ottawa

Arnav Dixit: incoming freshman at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Colton Smith: incoming senior at University of Maryland Baltimore County

David Urke: attending University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Mary Nonnenmann: incoming Freshman at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Paige Davis: pursuing a Masters of Arts in Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems, Penn State University

Rachel Gray: pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering at George Washington University

Tyler Kleinsasser: incoming Junior at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology

Recent Winners

About John Gray

John Gray was a world-class scientist and engineer with a distinguished career as a chemist. His career began in January 1949 when he joined Dearborn Chemical as a laboratory technician. He retired as senior vice-president in 1994. John was selected in 2003 by the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) as an accomplished, 50-year contributor to the chemical profession. In 1994, he formed a corrosion consulting firm, John Gray & Associates, and served as senior water conditioning consultant for GE Betz in Trevose, PA.

John served as President of IDEA in 1991 and also served as a member of its Board of Directors. He was a beloved and regular attendee of IDEA conferences since 1967.

John presented many technical papers on industrial water conditioning in Canada, the U.S., Great Britain, and Australia. He is a member of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers and holds patents on his boiler sludge conditioner, a closed water corrosion inhibitor and a neutral pH, non-corrosive rust remover. He was awarded the prestigious Norman R. Taylor award by IDEA in 1994 for his distinguished achievements in district energy.

For nearly 50 years, John attended the IDEA Annual Conference and greatly enjoyed taking the podium to offer the invocation, regaling all with his trademark wit and humility. He is sorely missed by his immediate family and by an even larger IDEA family, including the many hundreds of people he touched over the years with his deep technical expertise, genuine kindness and abundant good humor. John believed passionately in the importance of the IDEA community and was committed to lifelong learning.

Our friend and colleague John Gray passed away on November 10, 2015.