GREENSBORO, N.C. — Editor's note: Video featured is NC A&T receiving $23M for clean energy programs.
N.C. A&T student makes history becoming a 2022 Astronaut Scholar.
Youngsville native, Tanae Lewis, is a senior chemistry student and university's first Goldwater Scholar to also be named an Astronaut Scholar -- the first from a historically Black college or university (HBCU) to achieve this dual recognition.
As a 2022 Astronaut Scholar, Lewis will receive up to $15,000 for eligible educational expenses, a paid trip to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's Innovators Week & Gala in Florida, lifelong engagement with astronauts and STEM researchers and innovators, Astronaut Scholar alumni, and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF).
"This is an amazing accomplishment by an amazing student. This scholarship supports her ongoing journey toward excellence," Interim Provost Tonya Smith-Jackson, Ph.D., said.
While pursuing her B.S. in chemistry, Lewis serves as:
- A peer mentor and Aggie Student Success leader in the College of Science and Technology (CoST)'s Department of Chemistry
- Vice President of the Chemistry Club
- 2019-2021 SciTech Scholar in CoST
- Department of Chemistry scholarship recipient
- 2019-2021 Aggie Gentz Scholarship recipient
- A member of the science and Math National Honor Society
- initiated in April 2022 into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
Lewis has also been named to A&T's Chancellor's List, which recognizes full-time students who earn at least 3.75 GPA in at least 12 hours or more of semester credit.
“As a Black woman in chemistry and future leader in the STEM world conducting neurodegenerative research on Alzheimer’s and other diseases, I am sensitive to the challenges that ethnic minorities face in academia. I value the education and mentors who promote an atmosphere of inclusion and grant all students access to the tools needed to be successful in their careers,” said Lewis.
The Astronaut Scholarship was created in 1984 by the surviving Mercury 7 astronauts and administered by the ASF. It provides more than 60 scholarships annually to the most academically accomplished undergraduate second- and third-year students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
This year, 68 Astronaut Scholarships were awarded to students representing 45 universities across the nation.
Lewis is one of 16 people from A&T who have received the Astronaut Scholarship, bringing the total number of awards and renewals to 18 since A&T became the first HBCU to be an ASF Partnering Institution in 1994.