Two KU juniors to compete for Astronaut Scholarships
LAWRENCE — Two outstanding University of Kansas undergraduates are representing KU in the Astronaut Scholarship program.
The six surviving members of the Mercury 7 mission founded the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) in 1984 to encourage students to pursue scientific endeavors to keep the U.S. on the leading edge of technology. Astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs have joined the foundation, which has awarded $4 million in scholarships to more than 400 of the nation’s top scholars.
KU’s 2023 nominees:
- Audrey Rips-Goodwin, a junior majoring in chemistry and mathematics and minoring in psychology
- Kate Wienke, a junior majoring in physics
With the support of the ASF, up to two KU undergraduate students will be selected to receive up to a $15,000 scholarship during their junior or senior year. Nominations were sought from faculty members in all STEM disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — for students with exceptional academic records and considerable research experience. A committee coordinated by the Office of Fellowships and chaired by Steven Hawley, KU professor emeritus of physics & astronomy and former astronaut, selected the university’s candidates for the award. The winners of the scholarship will be announced later this spring.
The ASF board of directors selected KU to join the program based upon the excellence of the university’s STEM academic programs for undergraduates and the strong research capabilities and opportunities for undergraduate students. Admission into the scholarship program is highly competitive, and only the top research universities in the country are chosen to participate.
Audrey Rips-Goodwin, from Overland Park, is the daughter of Cheryl Rips and Stanley Goodwin and a graduate of Blue Valley Southwest High School. She is majoring in mathematics and chemistry and minoring in psychology with plans to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience and conduct research in neuroscience/neuroeconomics of addictions, eating disorders and obesity. In 2021, Rips-Goodwin contributed to a large series of studies examining how age-related increases in phosphodiesterase 11A4 contribute to age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease under Michy Kelly at the University of South Carolina. Rips-Goodwin is a co-author of a paper based on this research, which is currently in review. In 2022, after transferring to KU, she joined Tera Fazzino’s lab and determined the accuracy of reported energy content of hyper-palatable foods, combining her research interests in both chemistry and psychology and leading to two presentations. In 2022, she was named a Kansas Idea Network for Biomedical Research Excellence program scholar to conduct independent research. In summer 2023, Rips-Goodwin will participate in a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates in the Department of Mathematics at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. She is also a student ambassador for the KU College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, a Bricker ChemScholar and a Frances H. Gayetta Lensor Scholarship recipient, awarded to an exceptional female student majoring in chemistry. Outside of research and academics, Rips-Goodwin serves as a weekend volunteer at Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Kate Wienke, from St. Louis, is the daughter of Libby Clabaugh and Steve Wienke and is a graduate of Webster Groves High School. Majoring in physics, Wienke aspires to earn a doctorate in astrophysics and lead a team conducting research on astrobiology or exoplanets. She also plans to teach at the university level and start a mentorship program for young gender and racial minorities in physics. In 2021, within Ian Crossfield’s KU ExoLab, she compared the densities of exoplanets with the elemental abundances of their stars. She presented this research at the KU 2022 spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. Currently, Wienke is conducting research with Jessie Christiansen on using Spitzer Phase Curve Analysis to detect an atmosphere on the Super Earth-HD within the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. In September 2022, she was one of 36 students invited to participate in Caltech’s FUTURE of Physics for junior and senior undergraduate gender minorities in physics. Wienke is an honors ambassador and University Scholar and served as the project leader on a team examining diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging within the KU Department of Physics. She also serves as a co-captain for the Women’s Rugby Club and was a member of the KU rowing team her freshman year. Wienke has received numerous accolades including the KU Gene R. Feaster Physics Scholarship and KU Francis W. Prosser Physics Scholarship and was on the 2021 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team for achieving a 4.0 GPA while participating as a Big-12 athlete. Most recently Wienke was named a 2023 Goldwater Scholar.