MSU students Berry, White join elite Astronaut Scholars
STARKVILLE — Two Mississippi State University engineering majors have been named Astronaut Scholars, joining a national class of 79 students who receive up to $15,000 and access to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s mentoring and professional network.
Madelyn “Sloan” Berry of Brandon is a senior aerospace engineering major with a 4.0 GPA and a Louis A. Hurst Jr. Presidential Endowed Scholarship recipient. She has researched composites and aerostructures at MSU’s Aerostructures for Hypersonic Flight Research Laboratory and worked with the university’s Remote Sensing Payload Research and Development program. Berry will spend this summer as an engineering analyst intern with the U.S. Department of Defense.
India “Alex” White of Saltillo is a senior biomedical engineering major with a 4.0 GPA and a Luckyday Scholar who was named a national Barry Goldwater Scholar. Her research experience includes work with MSU’s Priddy Lab and Neural Engineering Research Division, the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Advanced Medical Imaging Research Division and the University of Mississippi’s A.R.I.S.E. program. She was accepted into the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center summer research program.
Both students are members of MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College and have led student organizations and mentoring initiatives, including MSU’s CubeSat satellite design team, Tau Beta Pi and the Luckyday Scholars Program. Astronaut Scholarships target juniors and seniors who plan to pursue research or advance their fields after graduation and provide mentoring, professional development opportunities and a paid trip to the foundation’s Innovators Week and Gala in Houston.
MSU’s Office of Prestigious External Scholarships helps students apply for competitive awards and fellowships. More information is available at www.honors.msstate.edu/initiatives/office-prestigious-external-scholarships and the Shackouls Honors College site at www.honors.msstate.edu.
