Bio Nebraska and the Bio Nebraska Foundation announced today that they will begin accepting applications for the Marylinn Munson & Bio Nebraska STEM Scholarship and the Bio Nebraska REACH Scholarship for the 2026-2027 academic year.
The two scholarships are aimed at supporting Nebraska students pursuing careers in STEM and bioscience fields.
Marylinn Munson & Bio Nebraska STEM Scholarship
This scholarship aims to support and encourage Nebraska high school students as they pursue relevant classroom study and professional experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related fields.
Scholarships are available to Nebraska high school seniors who have been accepted at a Bio Nebraska approved Nebraska college, community college or university, are planning to enroll in an undergraduate course of study in a STEM-related field, and who plan to pursue a career with a STEM-related organization. A one-time scholarship payment of $2,500 may be awarded to up to two high school seniors for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Bio Nebraska REACH Scholarship
The Bio Nebraska REACH Scholarship is designed to support and empower women who are nearing the completion of their undergraduate education in a bioscience-related field of study.
It provides financial assistance to students with at least a junior standing in a four-year curriculum or have more than 50 percent of credits needed for a degree in a two-year curriculum and need additional support to complete their degrees. Up to two $2,500 scholarships will be awarded for the 2026-2027 academic year to students enrolled at a Nebraska college, community college or university.
The Bio Nebraska Foundation will begin accepting applications for both scholarships on February 25, 2026. Applications must be received before 9:00 a.m. CDT on April 30, 2026. Scholarship recipients will be announced in June 2026. For more information about the Marylinn Munson & Bio Nebraska STEM Scholarship and the Bio Nebraska REACH Scholarship, interested applicants can visit the Bio Nebraska website here.
About Marylinn Munson
Marylinn Munson has worked in the life science, biotechnology and agriculture industries for more than 20 years. Currently she is on three Boards; Bio Nebraska Foundation, RAIN Incubator advancing STEM, and Recombinetics solving intractable challenges through gene editing. She has held international leadership roles at industry-leading biotech and life science companies. At Neogen she led the Genomics business; she managed the international genomics informatics field team at Qiagen; built and managed a field sales team and an international operations group where she was responsible for 60 percent of Illumina’s global business; and part of a Core Strategy Team, business development and marketing at Agilent. At Amersham Biosciences (GE Healthcare), she sold Next Generation Systems in North America, many of which were used as part of the Human Genome Project. Marylinn’s passion for excellence, people and customers has made her the recipient of industry awards including the Federal Labs Consortium Award for Technology Transfer. She is listed as an inventor on U.S. patents.
About Bio Nebraska Foundation
The Bio Nebraska Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on workforce development and education affiliated with Bio Nebraska. The Foundation aims to aid in the development of a highly educated and diverse Nebraska workforce by providing scholarships to Nebraska students and educational programming for professionals interested in advancing their careers in biosciences. Bio Nebraska is a nonprofit trade association tasked with supporting, promoting, and catalyzing the biosciences in Nebraska. For more information, visit bionebraska.org/foundation.
About Bio Nebraska
Founded in 2005, Bio Nebraska is a non-profit trade association dedicated to supporting and promoting Nebraska’s bioscience sector and ensuring the sector grows and thrives. Bio Nebraska is the only organization in the state representing over 100 bio-related entities in the human health, medical device, animal health, agriculture, renewable fuels and biomanufacturing sectors, as well as educational institutions and service providers. For more information, visit bionebraska.org.