Oct 08, 2009 - Claremont, Calif. -

Apollo Astronaut Walt Cunningham presented Harvey Mudd College (HMC) senior Bryan Teague with a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) during a public presentation and ceremony Oct. 1 in Galileo McAlister on the HMC campus.

The Astronaut Scholarship is the largest monetary award based solely on merit that is given in the United States to science and engineering undergraduate students. Eighteen of these prestigious awards were dispersed this year through the ASF to outstanding college students majoring in science, engineering or math. Over $2.8 million has been awarded in scholarships to date, $190,500 to HMC students. These well-rounded students exhibit motivation, imagination and intellectual daring, as well as exceptional performance, both in and outside, the classroom. 
 
 “Students, like Bryan, are the pioneers of our future,” said Cunningham, “He will forever be included in the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s elite group of Astronaut Scholars. Our scholars have gone on to work with the Hubble telescope discovering the furthest galaxy documented to date, helped design several of the world’s most prestigious fighter jets, have been named some of the top 50 technical leaders by Scientific America and much more.”

Teague, son of Terrance and Leslie Teague of Boulder, Colo., will graduate in May 2010 with a degree in general engineering. He is interested in electric cars and worked with a team at the University of West Australia, where he studied for a semester, to try to convert a Lotus Elise to a fully electric vehicle. Teague is equally involved with materials science, specifically energy and power generation and has worked on developing photo initiated thiolene polymers. He is also a candidate for senior class president. In his spare time, Teague enjoys biking and backpacking.

“Bryan is an excellent choice for this award, and we’re proud that he is continuing HMC’s winning tradition,” said President Maria Klawe. Seventeen HMC students have received a total of $190,500 in scholarships since 1987. “We are thrilled that the Astronaut Foundation shares our enthusiasm for well-rounded students who exhibit exceptional performance in science and engineering.”

After the presentation, Cunningham spoke to the audience about fear, risk taking and leadership. He asked, "Are we doomed, all of us, to a future with a fixation on safety and security? Must our resources be used only for feeding our existence, never for dreaming and reaching? If you’re not willing to risk failing, then you don’t deserve to win. But when you win, you win big."

Cunningham was selected by NASA as an astronaut in October 1963. On October 11, 1968, Cunningham, Wally Schirra and Donn Eisele were launched aboard Apollo 7 – the first manned flight of the Apollo Program following the tragic Apollo 1 fire. The 260-hour, 4.5 million-mile flight was a success and provided NASA with confidence to send the next Apollo crew, Apollo 8, into orbit around the moon.

“Against enormous odds, with the whole world watching, a group of engineers, scientists and managers accepted the challenge, took a risk and changed the way that we perceived our world,” he said. “Was space the last frontier? No, it wasn’t. It was just the latest of the last frontiers. Those frontiers are always there—in science, medicine and even business. You think Bill Gates didn't blaze a new frontier? The trick is locating those frontiers, and that takes vision, imagination. It takes individuals willing to search for excellence and the boundaries of our knowledge. It takes individuals willing to accept a challenge and who are prepared to pay the price—not cautious naysayers.”

Cunningham retired from NASA in 1975 and was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997. He currently serves on the ASF Board of Directors.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization established by the Mercury Astronauts in 1984. Its goal is to aid the United States in retaining its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships for exceptional college students pursuing degrees in these fields. Today, more than 80 Astronauts from the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and Space Station programs have joined in this educational endeavor.

Harvey Mudd College is the coeducational liberal arts college of engineering, science and mathematics that also places strong emphasis on humanities and social sciences. The college’s aim is to graduate engineers, scientists and mathematicians who understand the impact of their work on society.