T After 30+ years of involvement with rotorcraft and AHS, I welcome the opportunity to reflect back on what the VFF scholarship I received in 1985 meant to me. Although I had a strong fascination with airplanes as a high school student and undergraduate engineering major, I have to admit that "rotorcraft" never really caught my attention. It wasn't until I joined the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center of Excellence at the University of Maryland that my true enthusiasm for rotorcraft started to take root. As a graduate student, Prof. Inderjit Chopra encouraged me to apply for a VFF scholarship. I felt honored to receive one and of course the funding was appreciated because it helped me focus on classes and research. What I didn't realize at the time was how much this scholarship was really an "invitation" by the rotorcraft technical community to join their ranks and how it would help instill in me a career-long inspiration to be involved with rotorcraft.
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