The Joe Nelson-Engineered Products Co. Scholarship is open to high school and full-time students in the power technology programs at Hawkeye Community College. The scholarships will be awarded on the basis of achievement, career plans, and goals.
The scholarships are in the amount of $1,000 with disbursement of the funds given in two semesters ($250 fall semester and $750 spring semester). To be eligible for the spring disbursement, the recipient must have a minimum GPA of 2.5.
Completed applications and a personal statement describing your skills in relation to Joe's, must be received by the College Advancement Office at Hawkeye Community College by April 1. A personal interview with potential recipients will be conducted to make the final selection.
Joe Nelson, 1928-1984, was born and raised in Decorah, Iowa, the second youngest of 10 children.
After high school Joe served in the Air Force during WWII for a short time. After the war, being a "hands-on, mechanically-inclined" guy, he got his A & E Aircraft Mechanics Certificate from St. Louis School of Aeronautics in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked for two major airlines, first as a mechanic and then as a flight engineer.
Joe left aviation during a long Eastern Airlines strike and worked for Purolator and United Air Cleaner Manufacturing as a sales engineer, selling oil filter and air cleaner systems to farm tractor manufacturers in the midwest. He saw the need for an air cleaner gauge that would progressively indicate the amount of element life used and the amount remaining. He saw that elements were prematurely serviced and thrown away on a time/mileage or "looks dirty" schedule, which shorted them of reaching their maximum efficiency in dirt-holding capacity. Over a period of two years, working off and on in his basement workshop, with minimum equipment and borrowed money, Joe developed the Filter Minder air cleaner gauge, patented it, tooled and put it into limited production.
Joe had a "better mousetrap" but "nobody beat a path to his door". He was a budding entrepreneur, stalled for lack of marketing.
In 1977, he teamed up with H. D. "Ike" Leighty, who had 30 years of experience in sales and marketing in automotive, farm, and construction equipment to original equipment manufacturers. They incorporated the entrepreneurship venture as Engineered Products Co. to develop and market the Filter Minder.
Since that time, the Filter Minder has become the standard in the heavy and medium truck industries for determining service intervals for air cleaners. The largest rental fleet in the world, using the Filter Minder since 1980, has reduced air cleaner costs and labor by 80%, a 15 to 1 payback. Now Ford, Chrysler, and GM are introducing the Filter Minder into the huge Detroit automotive market. It has already been installed in light trucks and vans. Within the next few years, the Filter Minder can completely revolutionize the way air cleaners are serviced, from a time, mileage or "looks dirty" basis to actual capacity used. In addition to cost-savings, society will have fewer partially used elements being thrown into already overburdened landfills.
The Joe Nelson - Engineered Products Co. Scholarship Fund has been established by Joe's wife, Fran Nelson, former partner, Ike Leighty, with administrative support from Joe's former company, Engineered Products Co. The goal of the scholarship is to encourage and help other potential dreamers, thinkers, "hands-on" people like Joe Nelson, to pursue their training and education in the Power Technology field at Hawkeye Community College.
The community and economy needs more people like Joe Nelson who can innovate and make things happen. That is why this scholarship has been established.
For additional information, contact the Foundation Office at (319)296-4002 or scholarships@hawkeyecollege.edu
