Sturtz Granddaughter Is Recipient Of Astronaut Scholarship

Editor's Note: Amanda is the daughter of Melissa and Kent Haab. Melissa is a 1990 graduate of Broadus. Amanda is the granddaughter of Dick and Mary Sturtz of Broadus.

Courtesy Montana State University

BOZEMAN - A Montana State University undergraduate has been selected as the university's first recipient of a new scholarship launched in January in partnership with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Amanda Haab, a junior from Helena who is majoring in microbiology, has been named one of the foundation's Astronaut Scholars in the U.S. for 2023. According to the foundation, the award is one of the nation's largest merit-based scholarships given to college juniors and seniors studying science, technology, engineering or math. Awardees receive up to $15,000 and have access to events, networking and mentoring with astronauts and scholarship alumni. Haab will be honored along with the roughly 60 other awardees at the foundation's Innovators Week and Gala event Aug. 16-19 in Orlando, Florida.

"I'm really excited to go down to the conference in Orlando and meet the other scholars and industry partners," Haab said. "I've had great mentors at MSU and am also looking forward to the new mentorship opportunities through ASF."

Haab said she has long had an interest in space, which she has channeled into research in MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering to develop ceramic glazes that could help prevent microbial buildup in the water pipes of the International Space Station and other spacecraft. The work also draws from her artistic interest in ceramics, which she began cultivating in high school and continues with her own pottery business, Day Ceramics. She is optimistic that her experiments with certain ceramic coatings will show promise for reducing the prevalence of microbes sampled from the space station, she said.

"I didn't come to MSU with the expectation that research would be such a big part of my academic and future career," said Haab, who began conducting the research during her freshman year as an MSU Vice President of Research and Economic Development Fellow in the lab of Matthew Fields, director of the Center for Biofilm Engineering. "But the research I've done in CBE has been phenomenal, and I'm interested in continuing with a research career in that direction."

Haab is also the sole undergraduate representative on MSU's University Research Council and has been heavily involved with the Associated Students of Montana State, MSU's student government, where she has served as chief justice from 2022 to 2023.

"Those have been huge learning experiences for me and have helped me grow leadership skills that I can apply to interdisciplinary research and whatever else I do," Haab said.

According to Steven Davis, assistant dean of MSU's Honors College, Haab's selection is exciting because it is the first time the award has been given in Montana. MSU was introduced to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation by JoAnn Morgan, a retired NASA executive and dedicated supporter of MSU, Davis noted. MSU is one of 46 universities whose students are eligible to receive the award because of partnership with the foundation. An event at MSU last January to commemorate the new scholarship featured John Herrington, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, who logged nearly 20 hours of spacewalks outside the NASA Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2002.

"Amanda is truly deserving as she represents what we expect to be the first of many students from Montana State to join some of the best and brightest minds in STEM who show initiative, creativity, and excellence in their chosen field," Davis said.

Astronaut Scholarship candidates are nominated by faculty members. Students interested in the scholarship can contact Davis directly or the Honors College at [email protected].

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is an Orlando-based nonprofit founded in 1984 by the six surviving Mercury 7 astronauts to commemorate the legacy of America's pioneering astronauts. The foundation partners with industry leaders, universities and individual donors to support and reward exceptional college students pursuing degrees in STEM.

"I'm excited to see how this could open some new doors," Haab said of the fellowship. "I'm thankful for all the community and mentorship here at MSU and am looking forward to seeing how this can help connect me to the next chapter of life."