Rizwan Virani, Managing Director at alliantgroup and Shane Frank, Chief Operating Officer of Alliantgroup. The Frank Family Foundation is establishing an Endowed Presidential Scholarship for one undergraduate mechanical engineering student each year. Both men are alumni of the university.
The Frank Family Foundation is establishing an Endowed Presidential Scholarship (EPS) that will fund one undergraduate student per year. The scholarship, established in November 2012, was named to benefit an undergraduate student within the Cockrell School of Engineering. The endowment honors Mr. Leonard Eicher. Gift funds were provided by Mr. Shane T. Frank of alliantgroup.
Shane Frank received his B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin in 1994. Frank is co-founder (with Dhaval R. Jadav) and Chief Operating Officer of alliantgroup in Houston, Texas. alliantgroup works to provide companies with the resources and expertise necessary to claim the government endorsed tax incentives in which they are fully entitled. The specialty tax firm currently has a workforce of 350 and has plans to hire an additional 150+ employees, most with technical backgrounds in industries such as engineering, architecture, agriculture, software development, and more, over the next 18 months.
Although not an alumnus of The University of Texas at Austin Mechanical Engineering department, Frank understands the importance of mechanical engineers in his own organization as well as in the workforce at large. The goal of this scholarship is to encourage students to select technical disciplines where they can innovate, create, and build. Frank says, "It is scary to see so many projects requiring technical skills being sent overseas and now R&D going over, as well. We need to ensure that engineers are trained in the U.S. and given the opportunity to contribute to the strengthening of America's economy." He wanted to do something that makes a difference and named the scholarship after his grandfather, due to the impact he had on Frank's life.
