FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2001
Contact: Linn Burnaw or Howard Benedict
321-455-7011
Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Awards Seventeen $8,500 College Scholarships
Titusville, FL — The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation recently announced the award of scholarships for the 2001–2002 academic year to 17 dynamic undergraduate and graduate college students studying in areas of science and engineering.
"The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation strives to strengthen America's future by aiding these students in their pursuit of technological degrees," said Gemini/Apollo Astronaut and Foundation Chairman Jim Lovell. "The astronauts from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle eras aspire, through this foundation, to preserve America as the leading country in science and technology. It's through students like these that America will be able to hold steadfast."
Four of the scholarships recipients are receiving funds for a second year. Thirteen of the scholarships will be replacements for students who have completed their programs.
Each Scholar will receive $8,500, a total of $144,500. That will increase the total amount of scholarship money awarded to $1,442,700 to a total of 146 students.
Candidates are nominated by faculty members and reviewed by a scholarship board at 17 cooperating educational institutions. Two nominees from each school are submitted to the foundation's scholarship committee, headed by Dr. Harvey A. Miller formally of Miami University in Ohio and the University of Central Florida. The committee's selections are presented to the foundation's board of directors for final approval.
The 2001–2002 recipients:
Georgia Tech — Patrick Thomas Biltgen from Marietta, GA, is a junior in Aerospace Engineering working on robust design methodology for aircraft engines in co-op with Rolls Royce.
Harvey Mudd College — David Joseph Diaz from Valley Village, CA, is a junior in Engineering and already working on a research paper on pipeline micro architecture in computers.
Miami University — Laura Ann Feeney from North Olmsted, OH, will be a senior with double majors in physics and math who has worked in amicroforce realization project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
North Carolina A&T — Sonya R. Covington from Durham, NC, is majoring in Engineering Physics to complete her degree in May 2002.
North Carolina State — Christina M. Hammock from Jacksonville, NC, is a second time recipient and is successfully continuing work on her double degree program in Electrical Engineering and Physics.
North Dakota State — Kirk Darin Hartel from Waterford City, ND, is a second time recipient and right on schedule to complete his Masters while researching fusarium head blight of wheat by introduction of genes from resistant strains of wild wheat.
Penn State University — Nicholas Andrew Bond from State College, PA, enters his senior year as first author of three scientific papers and second author on two others in the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He also has a minor in Philosophy.
Purdue University — Glen Wade Nixon from Fort Wayne, IN, is a senior in Honors Physics and Mathematics who has already developed an innovative instrument design for studying the earth's ozone layer.
Syracuse University — Joseph Daniel Kummer from Honeoye Falls, NY, is a second time recipient and continues to research development of high-speed tiltrotor aircraft and will complete his degree in 2001.
Texas A&M — Benjamin Ragan Waters from Nocona, TX, will be a senior in Chemical Engineering and carries a 4.0 average. He plans to go to graduate school and will pursue construction for plants in the pharmaceutical industry or continue his CIA work where he presently interns.
Tufts University — Sheri D. Weinberg from Scotch Plains, NJ, will be a senior in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering with a career goal to obtain a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering while pursuing a M.D. for the testing of certain devices.
University of Central Florida — Dana Lynn Strickland from Orlando, FL, is in the Master's program in Biological Science and Genetics after a varied career as an undergraduate Poultry Science and Genetics major.
University of Colorado — William Charles Kalinowski from Boulder, CO, is a senior in Aerospace Engineering Sciences with a Space Life Sciences emphasis. He has designed experiments for space shuttle and space station payloads.
University of Kentucky — Michael Lloyd Hayes from Lexington, KY, is a second time recipient who continues working on his Agricultural Biotechnology degree and is a member of a research team working in genetic engineering.
University of Minnesota — Timothy Robert Jackson from Cadott, WI, is working on a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering and continuing his studies of fluid/structure interactions in micro scale devices that are of value under micro-gravity conditions.
University of Washington — Andrew A. West from Ukiah, CA, is a PH. D. candidate in Astronomy working in radio astronomy as well as optical observations. Among other things, he is studying hydrogen gas in galaxies.
Washington University — Bryce Zachary Johnson from Greenwood, IN, will be a senior in Mathematics presently working in orthogonal polynomials with a goal of pursuing advanced degrees then teaching at the university level.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization established originally as the Mercury Seven Foundation in 1984 by the six surviving members of America's original Mercury astronauts and Mrs. Betty Grissom, widow of the seventh, Gus Grissom. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's goal is to facilitate the United States in retaining its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships to upper level college students and those pursuing masters or doctorates in the fields of science and engineering. The foundation has distributed almost $1.5 million dollars in scholarships thus far and continues to increase the scholarships. The foundation's headquarters are located at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which is located just outside the gates to Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida.