News Release
First Space Shuttle Pilot to Present Scholarships to Two NC State Students
Media Contact(s)
Dr. Larry Blanton, University Honors Program, (919) 513-4078
Oct. 1, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Robert Crippen, an astronaut who piloted the first space shuttle flight in 1981, will present North Carolina State University seniors Ryan Going and Adam Young with $10,000 scholarships from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Going is a dual major in electrical engineering and applied mathematics and Young is a biomedical engineering major.
The awards will be presented during a ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 4, at 1:15 p.m. in 222 Dabney Hall on the NC State campus. The event is free and open to the public. Dabney Hall is located on NC State's north campus.
Crippen served as director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in the early 1990s. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2001 and currently serves as vice chairman for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Crippen received his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1960. He then attended the Navy's Aviation Officer Program at Pensacola, Fla., and later graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's goal is to aid the United States in retaining its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships for exceptional college students pursuing degrees in engineering and the natural and applied sciences. The foundation annually funds 19 scholarships and has awarded nearly $2.5 million in scholarships to 226 students nationwide.
"These scholarships are a way for me and my fellow astronauts to give back to a country that provided us with an extraordinary opportunity," Crippen said. "Adam and Ryan will both be leading the United States at the edge of breakthrough technology and I consider it an honor to be presenting them with these checks."
- gregg -