The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation awarded an OU student its prestigious $10,000 scholarship Friday at the National Weather Center. Zachary Flamig, meteorology senior, accepted the award at a luncheon in his honor.

Donna Shirley, former assistant dean in OU’s College of Engineering and retired manager of the Mars Exploration Program from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, presented Flamig with the award after speaking briefly on some recent meteorological findings on other planets.

“There are a lot of opportunities in space,” Shirley said. “But if you choose to stay on Earth, that would be good too.”

Only 17 students were selected from the nationwide competition to receive this scholarship, the largest monetary award given to science and engineering students based solely on merit. This is the fifth consecutive year an OU student has been selected to receive the ASF award. According to the ASF Web site, the foundation has awarded $2.8 million in scholarships to college students since 1986.

Flamig said his interest in the weather first grew while living in Dallas as a child, where he experienced severe weather firsthand. He moved with his family to Los Alamos, N.M., but he never lost sight of his passion for meteorology.

Flamig came to OU in fall 2006 and since then has worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory as an undergraduate student research assistant.

Associate professor of meteorology Phillip Chilson teaches thermodynamics and first met Flamig in that class.

“Everything I threw at him, it just came back perfect,” Chilson said. “He had the highest score in the class.”

Chilson said he immediately thought of Flamig when he was talking to another professor about the ASF award, so he agreed to write Flamig’s required recommendation.

“It was easy to write a very strong letter for him because he’s a very excellent student,” Chilson said. “I feel like the part I played was very small. I just recognized it. It was all him who actually got the award.”

Chilson said Flamig’s level of curiosity makes him unique.

“He’ll see things beyond the surface level ... that most people stop at. He likes to dig in deeper,” he said. “I guess because he feels challenged by it and he wants to expand his understanding of things.”

Flamig will graduate in the spring with distinction, and pursue graduate school. Flamig said he eventually wants to become a leader at a major research institution, which Chilson said is not at all surprising.

The dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, John Snow, praised Flamig for his achievements.

“Scholarship nominees are those that have shown initiative, creativity and excellence in their chosen field,” Snow said. “And Zac Flamig certainly fulfills all these requirements.”

Past OU ASF winners

2008 - Craig Schwartz

2007 - Ryan East

2006 - Ryan East

2005 - Nathan Snook