[Vince]

How about this - what if a student puts out a call to any ASME member by this website for a nomination?

The nominator can simply detail the students' participation and offer their support for the person pursuing the scholarship.

As an alternative, maybe the ASME link can be a way to bring in another member into your team? By simply looking in the phone book for an engineering company, making an inquiry about contacting a Mechanical Engineer, and putting out a pitch to get a nominating letter you could be in business. Sure it is a bit of work, but if it takes you 2 hours your potential pay back is a rate of $2,500 an hour.