University president won lottery. Now he’s endowing scholarship for women in engineering.

Providence Journal

Paul Edward Parker

December 19. 2024

BRISTOL – The president of Roger Williams University has turned a lucky lottery pick into a scholarship aimed at advancing women in the field of engineering, the university announced Tuesday.

President Ioannis Miaoulis bought a ticket for the $333 million Feb. 2 Mega Millions drawing, and then put the ticket in a seldom-used drawer and forgot about it. When he rediscovered the ticket in July, he realized he had matched five of the six numbers in the drawing, qualifying him for a $1 million second prize.

When he was announced as the winner, Miaoulis pledged to donate some of the winnings, about $700,100 after taxes, to his favorite charity, Roger Williams University.

On Tuesday, the university announced the establishment of the Ioannis Miaoulis Women in Engineering Scholarship, for students pursuing an engineering degree there. The scholarship honors his granddaughters, Sage, Clover and Lila. Miaoulis himself is an engineer and longtime engineering professor.

This scholarship is for students majoring in engineering at Roger Williams who are dedicated to advocacy for women’s equity and empowerment or who are members of organizations open to all but whose missions seek to advance the needs of women.

University spokeswoman Jill Pais confirmed to The Providence Journal that Miaoulis had used part of his lottery winnings to endow the scholarship, but declined to say how big the endowment is.

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