Eleven ECU students have been awarded funding under the NASA National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program for the 2009-2010 academic year.
The awards are competitive and applications are reviewed by a committee on campus. Awards are in the form of scholarship and research stipends and range from $350 to $2,000 for the academic year.
Justin Gates of Sulphur, a sophomore biology major, and Stacey Halsey of Ada, a senior biology major, received research stipends.
Recipients of NASA National Space Grant fellowships for 2009-10 are Michelle Meadows (from left), Jessica Ferguson, Felicia Goure, Justin Gates, Bethany Beachel, Kristen Thompson, Samantha Wright and Jessica Detherow. Not shown are Kellie Eiland, Stacey Halsey and Daniel Stettler.
Scholarship awards went to sophomore chemistry major Bethany Beachel of Henryetta, mass communication junior Kellie Eiland of Shawnee, junior biology major Felicia Goure of Holdenville, senior nursing major Audra Meadows of Ada, junior business administration major Daniel Stettler of Ada, senior elementary education major Samantha Wright of Sulphur, senior medical physics majors Jessica Ferguson and Kristen Thompson, both of Elmore City, and senior accounting major Jessica Detherow of O'Fallon, Ill.
Under the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, funding may go toward undergraduate research and scholarship, campus and community projects, conference travel, visits to NASA Centers of Excellence, and financial assistance.
The awards are not limited to specific academic disciplines but students must meet required criteria. Dr. Mark Micozzi, associate professor of cartography and geography, and the institutional representative for ECU, said one of the requirements is an essay in which the reviewers look for evidence of creativity, initiative, motivation and other characteristics indicating the applicant's potential as a scholar and contributor to society.
In addition, the students discuss specific interests and how these interests and their discipline relate to NASA's overall mission. Students learn that all disciplines find space in NASA's world, Micozzi said.
The National Space Grant Program, mandated by Congress in 1987, consists of 52 state consortia in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Oklahoma is one of the 28 consortia at the "designated level." All carry out programs in education, research and public service.
The Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium includes four charter institutional affiliates (The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Cameron University and Langston University) and four regional institutional affiliates (ECU, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Southern Nazarene University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University).
The consortium also includes two academic affiliates (Application Engineering Program, Center for Spatial Analysis), two industrial affiliates (Frontier Electronic Systems Corporation, Science Applications International Corporation), one city government affiliate (Norman Economic Development Coalition), and five informal science education affiliates (Kirkpatrick Air and Space Museum at Omniplex, STARBASE Oklahoma Inc., K20 Center, Space Explorers Inc. and Tom Stafford Air and Space Museum)
For more information, contact Micozzi at 580-559-5398. For more information about the Fellowship Program visit https://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/spacegrant/home/index.html.
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