Orange County
Chapter

Orange County, California

The ARCS Foundation is a national, nonprofit, volunteer group of women. The organization was begun in 1958 following the realization that the United States was lacking in a sufficient number of scientists, engineers, doctors and teachers to meet the challenge of Sputnik. A program was set up to donate scholarship monies to selected colleges and universities recognizing outstanding students in the fields of engineering, medicine and the natural sciences.

There are fourteen ARCS Foundation chapters nationwide (Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Lubbock, Metropolitan Washington, Northern California, Orange County, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego and Seattle) dedicated to helping the best and brightest United States students by providing scholarships to scientists and engineers. Since its begining, the national membership has raised over $57 million  and has supported 10,996 scholars.

In the academic year 2005-2006, over 1,500 ARCS Foundation members nationwide awarded $4,160,000 in scholarships to science students in 46 colleges and universities in the United States.