HOPE was running out for Keegan Christensen before he learned about a new scholarship opportunity for students in the Denning Technology & Management (T&M) Program at Georgia Tech.

That's because Christensen, a senior, is due to graduate in May 2013 with 140 credits, 13 more than the State of Georgia's merit-based HOPE Scholarship Program covers.  But winning the first Lonnie A. "Aubry" Holland Scholarship ($6,500 split over two semesters) has taken financial pressure off of Christensen and enabled him to focus more on his studies and career opportunities made possible by the T&M Program.

Designed to groom leaders who possess both managerial and technological know-how, the T&M program led to an internship last summer at Boeing for Christensen, who has long dreamed of a career in the aviation industry. Throughout his senior year, he and a team of four other students are working on a capstone project for Boeing in which they're searching for ways to increase operational efficiencies related to auxiliary power units in commercial aircraft.

Boeing is one of a growing number of Corporate Affiliates who participate in the T&M program, which cross-trains students in Georgia Tech's Colleges of Business, Engineering, Science, and Computing. These Corporate Affiliates provide real-world projects for students completing the two-year, 22-credit T&M Program.

Christensen has enjoyed working with students in other majors through the program. "It's really interesting to see how our different thought processes come together," he says. "There is definitely a strong demand for business majors who understand technology and engineers who understand business."

Already a certified flight instructor, Christensen is currently weighing pursuing a full-time position at Boeing after graduation or joining the Air Force, where he'd like to fly cargo planes. His father and grandfather were both aircraft mechanics in the armed forces before beginning careers in the aviation industry.

"I'm the first person in my family to venture into the business operations side of aviation," he says.