Astronaut Fred Gregory to present scholarships at MSU today
Astronaut Fred Gregory will visit Mississippi State University today to present two prestigious awards.
Gregory is the first Africanamerican to serve as NASA'S deputy administrator. While on campus, Gregory will present two $10,000 Astronaut Scholarships to Mary Catherine Beard, a senior biomedical engineering major from Lufkin, Texas and senior mechanical engineering major Jacob Easley of Starkville. The two are among 52 university students nationwide to be selected for an Astronaut operations before becoming Scholarship. the agency's MSU is one of only deputy administrator 14 schools to have in 2002. multiple winners this He served briefly as year. Beard and Easley acting NASA administrator are the second and in 2005. Over third MSU students to his NASA career, receive the award, following GREGORY Gregory flew in space civil engineering alumnus three times on shuttle missions Phong Ly, who won an STS-51B in 1985, STS-33 in Astronaut Scholarship last year. 1989 and STS-44 in 1991.
In addition to presenting Prior to joining NASA in the scholarships, Gregory will 1978, Gregory served as a pilot discuss his time with NASA, in the U.S. Air Force. Gregory where he served as a test pilot flew 550 combat missions in and manager of flight safety Vietnam, and retired as a colonel programs and launch support in 1993 after 30 years and 7,000 flight hours. He holds degrees from the U.S. Air Force Academy and George Washington University.
Gregory will speak in the honors forum room in Griffins Hall from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., and his talk is free and open to the public
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was founded in 1984 by former astronauts to provide scholarships to bright college students in STEM fields.
The event is hosted by MSU'S Judy and and Bobby Shackouls Honors College and the MSU Office of Prestigious External Scholarships.