Tufts Alum, Astronaut Presents Student with Award

Physics major among 20 students nationwide to win Astronaut Scholarship Foundation award

Photo by Alonso Nichols, Tufts University

Tufts University senior Lauren Wielgus, whose interest in physics has taken her to Scotland and Japan, received a $10,000 scholarship through the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation from astronaut and Tufts alumnus Rick Hauck on Friday, Oct. 22. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization established by the Mercury astronauts in 1984.

At the presentation, Hauck shared his experiences as a Space Shuttle astronaut on three history-making missions, including commanding the first Shuttle mission after the Challenger accident.

“I am honored to present Lauren with this award, both as an astronaut and a Tufts alumnus,” said Hauck. “She has already excelled in the field of physics at home and abroad. I have no doubt that she will go on to a bright future as a prominent explorer in new areas of scientific study.”

Wielgus is a senior majoring in physics at Tufts School of Arts and Sciences with a 3.83 GPA. Wielgus has studied at the University of Edinburgh and was selected to work at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo studying space-based gravitational wave detection. In addition, she is co-editor-in-chief for Breakthrough, Tufts’ first undergraduate general interest science magazine. Wielgus helped start the magazine with a goal of raising scientific literacy. Her future plans include pursuing graduate degrees and working in a research-university setting.

The Astronaut Scholarship is the largest monetary award given in the United States to science and engineering undergraduate students based solely on merit. Twenty of these prestigious awards were dispersed this year through the 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, $142,500 has been disbursed to Tufts University students.

Wielgus is the daughter of Ginny and Mark Wielgus of Levittown, N.Y.

After attending Tufts and the Michigan Institute of Technology, Rick Hauck was named to NASA’s astronaut corps in 1978. He piloted Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983 on the seventh Shuttle launch, STS-7. The mission featured the Shuttle’s first five-person crew, including the first American woman astronaut, Sally Ride. Hauck lead history’s first space salvage mission in 1984 when and his four crewmembers blasted off on Discovery mission STS-51A. The crew rescued two satellites that were stranded when their kick motors failed to ignite. Following the 1986 Challenger accident, Hauck was selected in 1988 to command a crew of five veteran astronauts to test the first redesigned Shuttle, STS-26. Discovery lifted off flawlessly, and during four days aloft they conducted experiments and tested more than 200 changes made to the orbiter since Challenger. A day before returning to Earth, they paid an emotional tribute to the Challenger crew. In total, Hauck spent over 18 days in space before leaving NASA in 1989. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2001 and serves on the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Board of Directors.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit 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.

– Information from Tufts University