New year for NASA Fellowship Program

Quaker Hefner

News Story 2

NASA Fellowship Program

Ole Miss and the Mississippi Space Grant Consortium are gearing up to begin another year of the annual NASA Fellowship Competition, a program dedicated to graduate students hoping to excel in NASA related fields.

The NASA Fellowship Program began in 2007 and works statewide with Mississippi colleges to reward and help graduate students working toward their master’s and doctorate degrees.  The fellowship is one of fierce competition, students must meet a list of requirements and terms of eligibility to even apply.

“This fellowship opportunity is one for any graduate level student in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field of study.  The applications will be examined by a fellowship committee that will decide the winners,” said Margaret Schaff, the Ole Miss campus coordinator for the state’s Space Grant Consortium.

The fellowship committee will look at each applicant’s resume and compare grades, community service work and fields of research as well as review a required recommendation from each student’s departmental chair and a reference letter from his or her research mentor.

Schaff said, “Each student who is awarded the fellowship receives a federal grant of 17,000 dollars outright.  It is a wonderful opportunity.”

Winners of the fellowship must participate in active research of two components.  First, they must choose an area of research that is NASA related and secondly they are required to engage in 12 hours of some form of kindergarten through high school level outreach.

“NASA allows for the students to have a wide array of activities they can do.  Most of these students are already researching NASA related topics and the K-12 outreach program can be something of the student’s choosing,” said Schaff. 

Students can work with grade school to high school level children in their field of study and can design their own programs and events they believe will help enhance others’ learning.  Ole Miss hosts an annual, one day seminar for fellowship winners to go over the state’s science and math standards before these students enter classrooms for their outreach.

Last year 12 students were awarded the NASA Fellowship, one of them being an Ole Miss student.  This year, Schaff anticipates rewarding only 10 or fewer students.

Applications for the 2013-2014 NASA Fellowship Competition are due March 8, 2013.

For more information click here.

Sources:

Margaret Schaff, mschaff@olemiss.edu