News Release

Astronaut honors University of Oklahoma student with $10,000 scholarship

Grant and Award Announcement

University of Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. – Native Oklahoman and astronaut William Pogue, who spent 84 days orbiting Earth aboard Skylab, America's first space station, will present University of Oklahoma senior Heather Hollen with a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation during a public presentation and ceremony scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27.

The award ceremony, which will be in the atrium of the National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., on OU's Research Campus will coincide with a free, public presentation by Pogue, in which he will share his experiences as an astronaut.

"It is an honor to be presenting Heather with this award," said Pogue. "She is clearly passionate about the fields of engineering and geography. Heather's unique and innovative perspective will assist her to not only meet her goals but to exceed them."

"We are very proud that Heather Hollen has advanced at a level to merit this outstanding national recognition," said OU President David L. Boren.

Hollen is a senior majoring in geography and electrical engineering with a 4.0 grade-point average in her major courses. She is considered to be "intellectually daring" by her professors, who see her as a leader among her peers. Hollen intends to use her education to pursue the field of holography with the goal of helping people plan infrastructures, train for areas of expertise and enjoy recreational activities in a way that is more affordable than traditional methods. Outside the classroom, Jones enjoys rock climbing, scuba diving, traveling and yoga.

The Astronaut Scholarship is the largest scholarship awarded the United States to science and engineering undergraduate students based solely on merit. Twenty of these prestigious awards were presented this year through the foundation to outstanding college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math. More than $3 million has been awarded in scholarships to date. Since 2005, $60,000 has been awarded to OU students. Pogue applauds these well-rounded Astronaut Scholars who exhibit motivation, imagination and intellectual daring as well as exceptional performance, both in and out of the classroom.

Pogue orbited the Earth for 84 days during the final manned flight of the Skylab space station in 1973 and 1974. Pogue served as Command Module Pilot for Skylab 4 with Commander Gerald Carr and Science Pilot Edward Gibson. Carr and Pogue were charged with working with Earth resources cameras and sensors and metals processing experiments. They conducted daily medical experiments, gathering data on how their bodies adapted to the weightlessness of space. Pogue made two spacewalks, totaling 13 hours, 31 minutes outside the lab. After what was then a record 84 days in space, Carr, Pogue and Gibson bid farewell to Skylab and returned to Earth on Feb. 8, 1974. They had circled the globe 1,214 times, traveled 34.5 million miles and brought back 1,718 pounds of film, data and biomedical specimens for scientific study. Pogue retired from NASA and from the Air Force as a Colonel in 1975. Pogue was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on Oct. 4, 1997. He currently serves on the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's Board of Directors.

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The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by the Mercury Astronauts in 1984. Its 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 these fields. 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 (321)-455-7015 or log on to www.AstronautScholarship.org.

Created by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a doctoral degree-granting research university serving the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. OU enrolls more than 30,000 students, has more than 2,400 full-time faculty members, and has 20 colleges offering 163 majors at the baccalaureate level, 166 majors at the master's level, 81 majors at the doctoral level, 27 majors at the doctoral professional level, and 26 graduate certificates. The university's annual operating budget is $1.5 billion.


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