Former space shuttle astronaut Richard Truly will present University of Colorado at Boulder junior Minh Trong Than with a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation during a free public campus event on Monday, Oct. 18.
The award ceremony will coincide with a presentation by Truly, who will share his experiences as a NASA astronaut. The lecture will be held at 1 p.m. in the Bechtel Collaboratory at the Discovery Learning Center in CU-Boulder's engineering college at Regent Drive and Colorado Avenue.
Than has a 4.0 GPA and is a double major in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and chemistry and biochemistry. Than is from Westminster and a 2008 graduate of Thornton High School.
The Astronaut Scholarship is the largest monetary award given in the United States to science and engineering undergraduate students based solely on merit. Twenty awards were dispersed this year through the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, or ASF, to outstanding college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math. More than $3 million has been awarded in scholarships to date. Since 1995, $153,000 has been disbursed from the foundation to CU-Boulder undergraduates.
Truly piloted the space shuttle Columbia in 1981 and commanded the Challenger in 1983. In 1989 he became NASA's eighth administrator, serving until 1992. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in November 2001 and is an active ASF supporter.
The ASF is a nonprofit organization established by the Mercury astronauts in 1984 to aid the United States in retaining world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships for exceptional college students. Today more than 80 astronauts from the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and Space Station programs have joined in this educational endeavor. For more information, call Linn LeBlanc at 321-455-7015 or visit www.AstronautScholarship.org.
