UK Senior Wins Astronaut Scholarship

University of Kentucky senior electrical engineering major Donnie Keathley will receive a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation during a ceremony Sept. 18 on the UK's Lexington campus. Keathley's research is focused on photonics and optical-based devices, and through the university he is helping to develop surface-plasmon resonance sensors, a type of optical biochemical sensor for applications in environmental, medical and defense monitoring. Keathley is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, an electrical engineering honor society, and has co-authored two journal articles. The Astronaut Scholarship is the largest monetary award given in the US to science and engineering undergraduate students based solely on merit. Presenting Keathley with the scholarship will be Apollo 14 astronaut and moonwalker Edgar Mitchell, who will speak on his experience as one of only 12 men to have walked on the moon.