CSE student receives prestigious 2016 Astronaut Scholarship
The scholarship awards up to $10,000 for a year of undergraduate study
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (05/27/2016) – A College of Science and Engineering chemical engineering student is one of two students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities who will receive a scholarship for the 2016-17 academic year from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. The prestigious, competitive scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research-oriented careers in mathematics, engineering, and the natural and applied sciences. The scholarship awards up to $10,000 for a year of undergraduate study.
Anthony Tabet, a senior from Blaine, Minn., in the University Honors Program is completing a chemical engineering degree. He plans to study chemical, biological or materials engineering in graduate school and develop innovative material platforms for drug delivery, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering. As a Post-Secondary Education Option (PSEO) student at the University, he became excited about chemistry and began working in Department of Chemistry Associate Professor Aaron Massari’s lab while still a high school senior. In the Massari Lab he studied the morphology and absorption properties of organic polymer films for solar energy applications. At the same time, he began working with University Medical School researchers David Largaespada and Igor Nestrasil to study enzyme deficiencies in patients with Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS). More recently, he has begun working with Department of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Chun Wang to develop biocompatible, biodegradable parenteral drug delivery platforms. Outside of the University, Tabet has worked for Activated Research Company of Eden Prairie, Minn., to develop reactive chromatography technology for improved analytical testing, and he is a co-founder of CoCreate Ventures, a public benefit corporation that provides mentoring and resources to help young entrepreneurs collaboratively develop product ideas. Tabet is a Wallin Scholar, a Goldwater Scholar, and an Amgen Scholar. On campus he is active with the Maronite Youth Group and the Comebacks A Capella Group.
The other University of Minnesota recipient is Michael Blazanin of Bloomington, Minn., a senior in the College of Biological Sciences and the University Honors Program majoring in ecology, evolution and behavior and minoring in microbiology and statistics. He plans to study microbial biology and evolution in graduate school with the goal of developing biological solutions to a variety of environmental and public health challenges.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was started in 1985 by the Mercury 7 astronauts to encourage the study of science and engineering. Scholarships are awarded to students at 32 universities with historic ties to the U.S. space program who demonstrate leadership, imagination and academic excellence in the study of mathematics, science and engineering. Mercury astronaut Donald “Deke” Slayton graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering in 1949. Slayton served as NASA’s Director of Flight Crew Operations and piloted the docking module in the Apollo-Soyuz mission of 1975. Twenty-five students from the University of Minnesota have been recognized as Astronaut Scholars.
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities students who are interested in applying for the scholarship in the future may consult the Office of National and International Scholarships by visiting www.honors.umn.edu/scholarships or by contacting Timothy Jones at natschol@umn.edu.
For more information on the Astronaut Scholarship, visit astronautscholarship.org.