NORMAN, Okla. – For the fifth consecutive year, a University of Oklahoma student has been selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. This year, 17 students were selected nationally based on exceptional performance, initiative and creativity in their field to receive the Astronaut Scholarship, the largest monetary award given to science and engineering students based solely on merit.
Zachary Flamig, a senior from Los Alamos, N.M., majoring in meteorology, will receive the scholarship during an awards luncheon hosted by the OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences Sept. 25 at the National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., on OU's Research Campus. Presenting him with the award will be Donna Shirley, a former assistant dean in OU's College of Engineering and retired manager of the Mars Exploration Program from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. John Snow, dean of the OU College of A&GS and Thomas Landers, dean of the OU College of Engineering who is also the local representative of the Astronaut Scholarship Program will also attend the luncheon.
"Zac Flamig exemplifies excellence as demonstrated by his placement as one of the top students in OU's nationally prominent School of Meteorology," said Snow. "Zac has worked hard at his studies and fully merits this recognition for his academic achievements."
Flamig has worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Severe Storms Laboratory as an undergraduate student research assistant since his freshman year at OU. He also has taken advantage of the collaboration between research and academics at the NWC.
"The access to premier researchers and staff who are always willing to offer advice and constructive criticism at the NWC makes it exceptionally unique," said Flamig. "By going through OU's meteorology program, I will start with the right foot forward to advance my career and research efforts."
Upon completion of his bachelor of science degree in meteorology, Flamig plans to attend graduate school at a leading academic institution and is interested in pursuing hydrometeorological and radar research, specifically hydrologic modeling of flash flooding.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1984 by the six surviving members of America's original Mercury astronauts. Its goal is to aid the United States in retaining its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships for college students who exhibit motivation, imagination and exceptional performance in the science or engineering field of their major. ASF funds a maximum of 19 $10,000 scholarships annually and has awarded more than $2.6 million in scholarships nationwide. For more information, visit www.AstronautScholarship.org.
The University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology
The OU School of Meteorology is the largest undergraduate program in the nation, with more than 280 undergraduate and 110 graduate students. It is ranked No. 1 in the nation in mesoscale and severe storm research and is among the top seven of the nearly 100 institutions that grant degrees in atmospheric science. The school also offers the nation's only true interdisciplinary weather radar educational program between meteorology and engineering.
The School of Meteorology is housed in the National Weather Center, a facility that houses a unique confederation of University of Oklahoma, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state organizations that work together in partnership to improve understanding of events occurring in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range of time and space scales. Together with the Department of Geography, the School of Meteorology is part of OU's College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences. For more information, visit http://weather.ou.edu/.