Friends of Alan Turing Fund Scholarship Grant

The Friends of Alan Turing Fund Scholarship, established by Lora Volkert, supports LGBTQ+ and ally students pursuing degrees in STEM fields. With a focus on promoting leadership and diversity, this scholarship aims to assist students facing systemic barriers. Applicants must be residents of the Northwest and are encouraged to apply regardless of their specific educational institution. This fund honors Alan Turing, a pioneer in computing, and seeks to uplift the next generation of STEM leaders.

Pride Foundation Scholarships
Over 60 Scholarships. Only 1 Application.
Thanks to the generosity of our community, Pride Foundation is able to offer a diversity of scholarships, which encourage students of different backgrounds and educational interests to apply. We offer over 50 different types of scholarships, but students only need to complete one application. Most scholarships are available for ally or questioning students as well. All funds promote leadership and diversity in the LGBTQ community. Scholarships are organized in four distinct categories: academic pursuits, community leadership, cultural identities, and geography.
Our Scholarship Priorities
Our scholarship program supports LGBTQ+ students who are leaders—in their own lives, in their families, in their home communities, in their fields of study, in their workplaces, or in our movements for justice.
We prioritize moving resources to LGBTQ+ students who need it most, so we especially focus our funding on those LGBTQ+ student leaders who have some or all of the following experiences and qualities:

• Demonstrate a commitment to advancing justice and the well-being of their communities, past, present, and future
• Have experienced family rejection and/or haven’t been able to access a larger community support system

Face systemic barriers to educational access, and have been impacted by systemic discrimination and oppression. Specifically:Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color
Trans, non-binary, gender diverse, gender non-conforming, and Two Spirit people
Immigrants
Disabled people/People with Disabilities, including people living with chronic illness, HIV, neurodivergence, and mental health challenges
People living rurally
People who have experienced or are experiencing housing instability or houselessness
People who have experienced or are experiencing poverty
Demonstrate financial need and don’t have access to familial or other financial supports
The priorities above drive the funding for all of our scholarships. While most Pride Foundation Scholarships are open to all students, we also host a number of scholarship funds that have specific criteria, based on students’ majors, backgrounds, where they live, and more. For those scholarships, we will prioritize students who both meet the specific fund criteria and also the broader programmatic priorities above.
The Friends of Alan Turing Scholarship is for students who are pursuing studies in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM).
This scholarship was created by Lora Volkert in 2013 for LGBTQ and ally students majoring in STEM (science, technology, engineering and/or math) fields. This scholarship was first awarded in 2014.
Words from the Creator
After having served on Pride Foundation scholarship committees for a few years, I was always impressed with the caliber of the students who apply, particularly those in the STEM fields. I am a former journalist, but after being let go from the newspaper where I worked, I went back to school for a computer science degree and became a software developer.
I was fortunate enough to earn a scholarship from the National Science Foundation when I went back to school. Having financial support made it much easier for me to focus on my degree and balance my work with my studies so that I could finish my degree quickly.
All of this inspired me to start the fund, but I don't want this fund to be about me. It's about the promise of the students I see going into STEM fields. It's about the great work Pride Foundation does in serving the underserved LGBTQ+ community by providing these scholarships. It's about something much larger than me. That's why I wanted to name the fund for Alan Turing. Turing's theories about computing, artificial intelligence, and computer architecture made many of the technical advances since the middle of the last century possible. But because of the social norms and laws of his time, he was forced to endure chemical castration to avoid going to prison simply for being gay.
I only hope that this fund can make a small difference for LGBTQ students who all too often still face enormous difficulties.
Lora Volkert lives in Boise, Idaho.

Eligibility

What are the eligibility requirements?Northwest Residency:Applicants must be a resident of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or Washington but may study elsewhere.Applicants are considered a resident of one of these states if they:currently live within that state and have done so for at least three months prior to the application deadline; OR
have lived within that state for at least one year at any time within the five years prior to the application deadline.Pursuing Post-Secondary Education:Applicants must be pursuing post-secondary education in the coming 2022-2023 school year. This includes community college, four-year public or private college or university, certificate programs, vocational/technical/trade programs, law school, medical/dental/veterinary school, or graduate education.

Ineligibility

You cannot apply scholarship funds towards off-campus housing (rent/mortgage), personal expenses, transportation costs, dependent care, computer or software purchases (unless required by your program), or other expenses not listed above.