A third-year University of Virginia student is $10,000 closer to academic success.
The scholarship is not only going to help pay for tuition, it's also going to help Ellen Zhong work toward her goal of one day becoming a researcher. Tuesday afternoon, she was presented the $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation at the Harrison Institute.
Retired astronaut Gerald Carr, who was part of the Skylab mission back in 1973, presented the scholarship Tuesday. At the time, that mission was the longest manned space flight in history - lasting 84 days.
Zhong is currently working on research related to the cause of protein structural instability during chromatography.
"Only two people were nominated from UVA, so even being nominated was a huge honor in itself," she said.
The foundation awards a $10,000 scholarship every year to a student in one of 26 colleges and universities.
Zhong is currently working on her own simulation program, which she hopes will someday become a useful tool for researchers. She says she plans to continue her education through graduate school and would like to eventually get her Ph.D.
Reported by Molly Balkenbush
