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Pearl I. Young Scholarship

Pearl I. Young

Pearl I. Young

The NDSGC has established the prestigious Pearl I. Young Space Grant Award for a female student at the University of North Dakota. Applicants will ideally be involved in a research project of NASA relevance.

Young grew up in North Dakota and attended school there. At age 11 she left home to work as a domestic in order to attend high school. After attending Jamestown College for two years, she transferred to the University of North Dakota. She graduated from UND in 1919 as a Phi Beta Kappa with a triple major in physics, mathematics, and chemistry. Despite her heavy course load, financial necessity dictated that Young work while pursuing her studies. She served as a laboratory assistant in the Physics Department and also worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau. After graduation, she taught physics for two years at UND. She then accepted an appointment at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia. She was the first woman hired as a technical employee, a physicist of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA); that agency later became NASA. She was the second woman hired as a physicist by the federal government. When Young died in 1968, her obituary noted that she had been a scientist, university professor, journalist, lecturer, author, and world traveler.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Female gender identity or outside the gender binary
  • Minimum 3.5 GPA
  • American Citizen
  • Student majoring in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) or STEM Education field at University of North Dakota
  • Application Guidance

Annual Due Date: February 15th

For additional information, please contact Marissa Saad.

Apply Now!

Past Recipients

Name Year Field
Michaela Neal 2020 Environmental Studies
Hannah Park 2020 Air Traffic Management / Airport Management
Emmelinne Miller 2019 Aeronautics / Air Traffic Management / UAS
Cristin Finnigan 2018 Space Studies
Sophie Orr 2017 Space Studies
Jennifer Grinsteiner 2016 Petroleum Engineering
Marika Diepenbroek 2015 Commercial Aviation / Mathematics
Janelle Hakala 2015 Atmospheric Sciences
Haylee Archer 2014 Physics
Heather Jacobson 2008 Chemical Engineering
Rebecca Bahnmiller 2006 Astrophysics
Mikayla Tafee 2005 Atmospheric Sciences
Lisa Maria Geschwill 2004 Mechanical Engineering
Candyce Hecker 2004 Mathematics
April Moore 2002 Chemical Engineering / Psychology
North Dakota NASA Space Grant Consortium
Clifford Hall Room 270
4149 University Avenue Stop 9008
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9008
P 701.777.6819

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Clifford Hall Room 512
4149 University Avenue Stop 9008
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9008

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North Dakota Space Grant Consortium

Clifford Hall, Room 270
4149 University Avenue, Stop 9008
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9008
P: 701.777.6819

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