Software firm PTC gives $100k for scholarships Fund memorializes Sept. 11 victims

he Needham-based software company PTC has donated $100,000 to the University system to create a scholarship fund in memory of the Massachusetts victims of the Sept. 11 tragedies.

      Preference for the scholarship will be given to engineering and applied science students whose families were directly affected by the terrorist activities.

      The gift establishes the endowed PTC Scholarship Fund in perpetuity. University officials expect the first scholarship to be granted for the semester beginning in January. Scholarships will be need-based and available to students at any of the University's five
campuses.

      "The employees of PTC wish to ex-tend their deepest sympathy to the families of the Sept. 11 victims," said chief executive officer C. Richard Harrison. "We hope this scholarship will help ease the financial burden the tragedy may have placed on students who were affected while allowing them to continue their studies."

      "PTC has identified the best means of honoring the victims of Sept. 11 by offering this meaningful assistance to the surviving families," President William M. Bulger said. "This generous gift will help alleviate the long-lasting human consequences of the tragedy."

     An Amherst campus employee, the parent of a student and seven alumni, including the pilot of one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

      The effort to identify an appropriate scholarship recipient has just started. The fund will generate an annual grant of several thousand dollars, according to the President's Office.

      In addition to the scholarship fund, PTC employees contributed approximately $54,000 of their own money to Sept. 11 relief, and PTC provided a match for a total of $108,000. This money will be divided among the American Red Cross, the United Way and the Salvation Army.

      PTC develops, markets, and supports software solutions that help manufacturers get superior products to market before their competitors. PTC is the world's largest software company with a total commitment to product development. The company services more than 32,000 customers worldwide.