Record Three N.C. A&T Students Awarded Prestigious Astronaut Scholarship

Three North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University undergraduate students have been selected as 2023 Astronaut Scholars, an elite scholarship awarded annually to the nation’s most academically accomplished students pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degrees. 

N.C. A&T is the first historically Black university (HBCU) to have more than one Astronaut Scholarship available in an application cycle.

Kristi Barnes, Maya Odom and Breyana Robinson will each receive up to $15,000 for eligible educational expenses and lifelong engagement with astronauts, executives, STEM researchers and innovators, Astronaut Scholar alumni and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF), the nonprofit founded in 1984 by surviving members of the Mercury 7 crew. They also received an all-expense paid trip to the ASF Innovator’s Week & Gala in Orlando, Florida, in August 2023 to present their research at a technical conference. 

Barnes, Odom and Robinson – all students in the university’s Honors College – were recognized by astronaut and retired Air Force Col. Frederick Drew Gregory during a special campus presentation and lecture on Jan. 25. 

Barnes, a graduating senior from Columbia, Maryland, who was a NASA Goddard intern in high school, is studying chemical engineering with an applied mathematics minor. Odom, a graduating senior from Crofton, Maryland, is a Cheatham-White Scholar studying computer engineering. Robinson, a third-year student from Garland, Texas, is a Dowdy Scholar studying laboratory animal science with a minor in chemistry. Robinson earned her Veterinary Assisting Certification through the Texas Veterinary Medicine Association in high school, and is a Diversity In Veterinary Medicine Coalition Scholar. 

“I am thrilled to celebrate Kristi, Maya, and Breyana’s individual and collective achievements in being selected for the Astronaut Scholarship in this cycle,” said Honors College Dean Margaret Kanipes. “Their remarkable accomplishments exemplify the boundless potential of all Aggies, not just Honors Aggies, and inspire us all to reach for the stars.” 

Astronaut Scholars Maya Odom, CAES Student Breyana Robinson, and Kristi Barnes listen during an event for prospective applicants.

Lenovo pledged support in fall 2022 for A&T to have a second scholarship slot, noting the strength of the campus’ applicant pool, and enabled the university to make history as the first HBCU to have more than one Astronaut Scholar chosen in an application cycle. 

Dr. Bernard Harris and the HBCU Astronaut Group made A&T’s first scholarship slot possible in 2019. 

Based on the outstanding merit demonstrated in A&T’s application pool, a third Aggie 2023 Astronaut Scholarship was enabled by ASF’s floating scholarship award mechanism, then funded by the HBCU Astronaut Group. 

In 2023, 68 Astronaut Scholars from across the country were selected from 46 nominating institutions. Only two other institutions later had three 2023 Astronaut Scholarship recipients: the University of Central Florida and Purdue University. 

“Kristi, Maya and Breyana’s achievements are shining examples of what Aggies Do,” said Tonya Smith-Jackson, Ph.D., provost and executive vice chancellor of Academic Affairs. “Each is poised to improve mankind through their intelligence and service to others, and I know they will add great value to their new Astronaut Scholarship Foundation community.”