Introducing. . .
Welcome to the first Winter edition of Mercury Scholars, the newsletter written by, for, and about past and current Mercury Seven scholarship recipients.
You may have seen one of the previous editions of Mercury Scholars, which has been published each spring for the past three years. In those newsletters, biographical profiles have been presented for past and current scholars. The Winter edition focuses exclusively on this year's current scholars and provides details about their activities during this academic year when they are being sponsored by the Mercury Seven Foundation.
As you will see, the Foundation has selected an outstanding group of scholars for the 1995-96 academic year. These scholarships are being used to develop and strengthen our nation's position in science and technology by enabling some of the top students to better pursue their chosen areas of interest.
Please send me all of your ideas or written contributions for future newsletters. I'd like to hear from you any time of year! (Lisa@AstronautScholars.org)
Kevin Peterson - Georgia Tech
Kevin hails from Montana and is studying to complete a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering this year.
He recently wrote to thank the Mercury Seven Foundation for the award. Kevin stated, "I am writing to express my deepest gratitude to the Mercury Seven Foundation ... for the very generous scholarship award. ... The award will greatly ease the financial burden of school. The efforts and accomplishments of the Mercury astronauts prove that our dreams can be fulfilled provided we are willing to put forth the required effort. They are superb role models whose contributions to the country are inspiring. Being selected as a Mercury Scholar is very humbling. I can only hope that my efforts will be worthy of the deeds of the founders."
Carl Coryell-Martin - Harvey Mudd College
Carl was honored with a Mercury Seven Scholarship for the first time this year for his work at Harvey Mudd College. He expects to receive a Bachelor of Physics degree in May 1997.
The Mercury Seven Scholarship has made it I easier for Carl to remain in school and continue to support his academic success. Carl reports that the award is a great honor and source of personal pride. It has inspired him to maintain the academic excellence and school involvement that led to his receipt of the scholarship in the first place.
During the fall semester, Carl realized several goals. Delta-h (the new Harvey Mudd College Outdoor Group) is going strong, and they have had several successful trips. Also, the finishing touches on Carl's largest undertaking of the semester are nearly complete (may be complete by the time this newsletter is published): he made a 3-D computer model and organized construction for the set of the E. T. C. Players production of The MouseTrap.
John Hofferberth - Miami University
John is a double major in Chemistry and Engineering Physics and expects to complete his bachelor's degrees in December 1996. Although he is not currently employed, John participated in an internship program last summer. He worked Marion Merrel Dow, Incorporated, where he researched organic synthesis of derivatives of biologically important compounds for use as building blocks in the design of new drugs.
John's favorite classes includes Advanced Inorganic Chemistry and Mathematical Physics. Topics of interest are biologically important inorganic compounds / complexes and group theory. John became a member of the Chemistry Honorary Society this year and was also selected as a Miami University Scholar (one of only 44 students selected from the student body this year).
Outside of his academic pursuits, John enjoys running and is the Vice President of the Miami Striders Running Club.
Clarence Marcelle Buford - North Carolina A&T State University
Marcelle (prefers his middle name) is a Mercury Seven Scholarship recipient this year for the first time. He will complete a bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics next May.
Marcelle conducted research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1994, with one of his professors. He characterized the magnetic properties of high temperature superconductors, specifically the insulating Pr-based compounds. He also worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory to conduct research on silver ternary alloys to be used for cladding of high temperature superconductors. A description of the work has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Electronic Materials.
At the time that we received information about Marcelle, he was planning to spend the summer of 1995 at the Superconductivity Technology Center of Los Alamos National Laboratory, preparing and studying high temperature superconductors.
Marcelle is involved as Secretary of the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a co-leader of the Mini Baja Team, and is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers. Notably, he has also been recognized by the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program in both 1994 and 1995.
Marcelle has at least four publications on various subjects related to superconductivity, including a paper entitled, "Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) of Diamond Thin Films", which was presented at a national conference in March 1995.
John O'Quinn - North Carolina State University
John is pursuing bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering and Multidisciplinary Studies, with a concentration in Technology and Environmental Policy. He expects to finish in May 1996 and will then pursue studies either in environmental sciences at Oxford University or Chemical Engineering in the United States.
John is part of a double major program, called the Benjamin Franklin Scholars, which combines degrees in engineering and the humanities. He has enjoyed the courses which bring these topics together, particularly in the field of environmental policy.
John is the Student Body President of North Carolina State University. His function is to serve as the chief liaison between students and administrators / faculty / trustees / etc. His projects have included opposing a major tuition increase, Take Back the Night March which raised campus awareness of rape and sexual assault, Homecoming, and Nightwalk which examined safety and lighting on campus.
John has completed research and study programs at Oxford University, Cornell University, and Florida State University during the past three summers. The programs included thin film transistor (TFT) display modeling, waste reclamation, development of real world engineering problems for first semester mathematics students, and an interdisciplinary research effort to understand why pollutants coagulate in estuaries.
His resume includes a long list of honors and activities. One of the most notable activities is his work as a Cub Scout Leader for a group at the North Carolina Governor Morehead School for the Blind! He has organized programs which allow the scouts to touch snakes, animal skins, furs, and skeletons in order to teach them about animals and also to broaden their world.
This summer, John will participate in the Washington Internship for Students of Engineering (WISE) in which he will examine an engineering issue from the public policy perspective for the National Society of Professional Engineers.
John aspires to complete a comprehensive education which will enable him to make a difference in our nation's third century. He hopes to be a person who sees across the gap between industry and ecology and is called upon to help meet the technical challenge of sustainable development.
Daniel Reichart - Pennsylvania State University
Daniel will complete three bachelor's degrees in May 1996. He is studying Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics, and Mathematics. Because he has received the Mercury Seven Scholarship since 1994, he was profiled in the Spring edition of this newsletter. The profile is repeated here for all of our new members, scholars, and supporters:
Dan entered Penn State at age 16, having already mastered calculus. He learned Einstein's theory of general relativity through reading on his own. He worked as a summer research assistant at the Penn State Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, analyzing and modeling data from NASA's orbiting Compton Gamma Ray observatory in hopes of determining the spatial and luminosity distributions of the yet unexplained gamma ray bursts. Further research will concentrate on using the bursts to determine whether the universe is open or closed.
Dan has received numerous scholarships and honors and is currently preparing a technical paper entitled, "The Spatial and Luminosity Distributions of Cosmological Gamma Ray Bursts."
He is also one of the founders and coordinators of a week-long astronomy program at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. The program uses a 40-foot radio telescope to allow high school and undergraduate college students the opportunity to learn, with hands-on experimentation, radio astronomy and research methodology. The program has been in existence for four years and may become a credit course at the University of Pittsburgh. Dan is instrumental in the program's success.
Each year, Dan returns to his high school to teach a week-long course in special relativity with an introduction to general relativity to the advanced senior physics classes. The course, which he designed, is in its fifth year.
Dan is engaged to Karaleah Jones, who is a student at Penn State, majoring in Anthropology and Political Science, with minors in History and Quantitative Analysis and Computer Applications in the Liberal Arts.
Anthony Roach - Purdue University
Anthony attends Purdue University in his home state of Indiana. He expects to complete bachelor's degrees in Physics and Mathematics in May 1996. Anthony received the Mercury Seven Scholarship for the second time this year, and one of his Physics professors wrote the following to report on his progress:
"Anthony's work continues to be of the highest quality. During the past year, he has been working with CCD imaging and photomultiplier tube testing in our high energy astrophysics lab. He is working on a reading project in theoretical physics, and he is the outstanding student in his physics class work. In addition, he devoted time last semester to serve as a mentor to a local middle school student for his science project in astronomy... He is an unusually bright young scientist and has the motivation and competence to pursue a career as a professional scientist."
We agree!
Michael Kegerise - Syracuse University
Michael is enjoying the rewards of the Mercury Seven Scholarship for the second year in a row. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in May 1994 and is now working toward a Ph.D.
As reported in the May edition of Mercury Scholars, Michael is a Research Assistant with the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering at Syracuse. He had plans to work at the NASA Langley Research Center over this past summer, where he would conduct a comparative study of three different hot-wire techniques in Mach 3.5 flow (i.e.: constant current, constant temperature, and constant voltage).
As an undergraduate, Michael was a Syracuse University Scholar and was recognized for Outstanding Academic Performance in Mechanical Engineering. During graduate school, he placed third in the graduate section of the 1995 AIAA Northeast Regional Student Conference for a technical paper presentation.
When he is not studying, Michael enjoys playing golf.
Kristopher Lee - Texas A&M University
Kristopher is using his Mercury Seven Scholarship to study for a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering with an expected completion date of May 1997. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Kristopher works at the NASA Johnson Space Center as an Engineering Trainee in the Propulsion and Power Division, where he models fluid systems. The models are used in the design process to reduce the number of iterations necessary to arrive at a final design. He is currently working on the propulsion system for the international space station's crew return vehicle.
Kristopher lists fluid mechanics, numerical analysis, heat transfer, and control systems as his favorite classes. The first three subjects relate directly to his job, which he enjoys very much. Kristopher finds control systems interesting because of the capability it provides to modify a system to make it do what you desire.
As an undergraduate at Texas A&M, Kristopher was a president's endowed scholar, a College of Engineering distinguished student, and a member of the dean's list. He graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department with honors.
Kristopher plays clarinet in the Texas A&M University symphonic band and has been at the top of the section since he joined the group in 1990.
Kristopher reports that he is very excited about being involved in the space program. He believes human involvement in space pushes the U. S. forward technologically. It also has forged new alliances between historically hostile countries. His ultimate goal is to be selected as a NASA astronaut and to fly on the shuttle (or whatever the current vehicle is at that time). He dreams of orbiting the Earth some day.
Sarah Krikorian - Tufts University
Sarah is a first year Mercury scholar and will finish a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in May 1996. She is involved in laboratory research in the Materials Science Lab at the Tufts University Mechanical Engineering Department, contributing to mapping out the ultrasonic velocities on a cast aluminum stepped material. The velocities can be used to identify air pockets which indicate where the material may fail in use.
Sarah fists Advanced Engineering Materials and Advanced Thermodynamics of Materials and Manufacturing as her favorite classes. She is learning about composites and manufacturing processes. Composites are being used increasingly more often due to decreasing costs, improved manufacturing processes, and other reasons. These classes have also shown her the importance of the process-structure-property relationship.
She has been honored in the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, Golden Key National Honor Society, and on her university dean's list. In addition, she has been recognized as an All-American Scholar and by the United States Achievement Academy for Engineering' ' Sarah has also been the treasurer of the Society of Women Engineers for 3 years. She has the lead for the budget and fundraising for the regional convention to be held in March 1996. She is the treasurer of the Armenian Club and also enjoys sailing, swimming, and tennis.
Sarah published an article in the Quantitative Non-Destructive Evaluation Journal, Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Review of Progress in QNDE, entitled The Acoustoelastic Measurements of Second and Third Order Elastic Constants in Silicon Carbide and Alumica Particulate Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites. The review was held in Seattle, Washington this past summer. She also completed summer research at WPI under a National Science Foundation grant, where she studied the synthesis and characterization of ceramic-metal nanocomposites.
Sarah expressed her sincere appreciation of the Mercury Seven Foundation and the benefits she has received as a Mercury scholar.
Nicole King - University of Colorado
Nicole is not only a first-time Mercury scholar but also a mother of two! She will complete a Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering Science in May with the help of the Mercury Seven Scholarship.
Nicole is from a family of nine from Cleveland, Ohio. She decided to become an aerospace engineer in high school. Although no other members of her family had any sort of technical background, she knew engineering would be a career in which she would excel. Soon after high school, Nicole got married and started a family. With the birth of her second daughter came the realization that if she did not attend college soon, she may never do it. So, seven years after graduating from high school, she began taking night classes at Metropolitan State College of Denver. After two years, she transferred her credits to the University of Colorado.
Nicole's marriage could not withstand the stresses of college life, and she was soon divorced. Since then, she has raised her daughters alone with the determination to not quit school. Currently, she is a senior in Aerospace Engineering. Nicole is especially interested in controls and systems engineering and is looking toward graduate school. Ultimately, she plans to become a systems engineer so that she will have the flexibility to work in nearly any industry and continue learning throughout her career.
The Mercury Seven Scholarship has relieved the financial burden of college for Nicole. It has enabled her to reduce her working hours, which has, in turn, given her more time for studies and, more importantly, to spend with her children. Nicole has told us that it would be much more difficult for her to attend college without the Mercury Seven Scholarship.
Sarah Braasch - University of Minnesota
Sarah is a double major in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering, expecting to graduate in June 1997. She was awarded her first Mercury Seven Scholarship last year. She performs laboratory research assistantship work in the Fluid Mechanics Lab at the University of Minnesota Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics. The topic of her work is spherical and cylindrical particle migration in shear flows and oscillatory shear flows of a viscoelastic liquid.
Sarah's favorite course is a spacecraft design class in which the students design a reusable launch vehicle. Her role is the aerodynamic design and optimization of the vehicle's reentry trajectory.
She was recently the subject of a front page article in The Minnesota Daily, the University of Minnesota alumni magazine.
She also presented her work in fluid mechanics to the University's Board of Regents. Sarah is actively involved in the Society of Women Engineers High School Outreach Program.
During the Spring Quarter 1996, Sarah will travel to Toulouse, France to conduct research in the area of control science and dynamic systems at SUP'RAERO, L'Ecole Nationale Superieure de I'Aeronautique et de t'Espace. The research will be conducted in cooperation with Le Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches de Toulouse (CERT), a high technology research center associated with SUP'RAERO. In the past, she worked in a summer internship at the Boeing Company in Seattle, on a three person team responsible for the critical design review of the lateral control systems of the 737 aircraft.
Angela Bielefeldt - University of Washington
Angela has received the Mercury Seven Scholarship since 1994 and expects to complete a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in July 1996. She has already achieved a bachelor's and a master's degree in the subject.
In her Ph.D. program, Angela is working as a research assistant in the Civil Engineering Department. She works on biological treatment of gases which are contaminated with volatile organic compounds (such as BTEX). Although she is no longer enrolled in classes, she has enjoyed giving lectures for Hazardous Waste Engineering and Fundamentals of Water and Wastewater Treatment.
Angela has published technical papers in the Journal of Environmental Engineering and a section of a book entitled Bioremediation of Chlorinated Solvents.
Outside of her academic life, Angela participates on an intramural bowling team and in ultimate Frisbee. Her co-recreational Frisbee team won the intramural division championship in Spring 1995.
After completing her Ph.D. degree, she has already secured a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, beginning in August 1996. She will be employed in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering. Congratulations, Angela!
Rob Pollack - Washington University
Rob received his second Mercury Seven Scholarship this year, and he will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics in May 1996. Rob is currently participating in an independent study program in Algebraic Number Theory. He finds the subject fascinating and is aiming to perform research in this field, professionally. The turning point in Rob's education occurred at the Ross Young Scholar's Program at Ohio State University during the summer following his sophomore year in high school. He describes this program as one of the nation's most intense and strongest high school programs for mathematics. Rob attributes most of his academic success to his experience at this program, to which he returned for the next five summers! Participants leave the program with a respect for learning and a deep appreciation of mathematics and natural sciences. If any other Mercury Seven scholarship recipients have participated in this program, Rob would like to know. You can contact him through Lisa Beeson at the address on page one of this newsletter.
Outside the classroom, Rob has many interests, including ballroom dancing, ultimate Frisbee, piano, volleyball, and tutoring high school students.
Summary
This year's list of outstanding scholars includes nine who have received the Mercury Seven Scholarship for the first time and six who are enjoying their second year of the award.
Major areas of study range from Aerospace Engineering to Mechanical Engineering to Mathematics and Physics.
The Mercury Seven Foundation selects fifteen institutions of higher education and awards one scholarship to each. Each scholarship was worth $7,500 this year.