Student receives astronaut award

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By Allison Alvey

Donnie Keathley grew up seeing stars. As a kid, he said he watched “Apollo 13” at least 30 times.
“I’ve always been wrapped up in space flight, mainly the engineering side of it, ever since I was a kid,” said Keathley, an electrical engineering senior.
Now, his fascination with space flight is paying off as Keathley was awarded a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, an award given to only 19 students nationwide.

The scholarship will be presented by Edgar Mitchell. Mitchell is one of 12 men to have walked on the moon. He was assigned to Apollo 14 as a Lunar Module Pilot and on Feb. 5, 1971, he and Alan Shepard landed their lunar module on the moon.
“It’s definitely an honor and a privilege,” Keathley said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Dr. Mitchell, not even considering the monetary aspects of the award.”
“To get an award from an Apollo 14 astronaut is absolutely phenomenal.”
According to the ASF Web site, faculty members in their department must nominate scholarship candidates. Two candidates per school are chosen and reviewed by the ASF scholarship committee before picking one recipient from each school.
“It’s a big honor, especially on the UK level, to say they selected me to try to represent UK for the scholarship,” Keathley said.
The ASF is a non-profit organization formed in 1984. The scholarships are meant to maintain world leadership by the U.S. in various fields of science and technology.
Keathley said all the money from the scholarship will go toward school and eventually a career in research. His presidential scholarship ran out this year, so the money will be going toward this semester’s tuition.
Todd Hastings, an assistant professor in the electrical and computer engineering department, has worked with Keathley in a research lab for the past two years. Since Keathley has joined the lab, Hastings said he has accelerated their research and brought new insights to their program.
“Donnie has been an incredible student, both in class and in the lab,” Hastings said.
Keathley helps make biomedical sensors, which are chemical detection sensors used in drug discovery.
“As of now, I look to start my PhD program next fall and after I get that and graduate, I would like to be a research professor.”