Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State civil engineering major Kyle A. Frazier of Madison is a 2005 Honorable Mention Goldwater Scholar.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation annually provides scholarships to American undergraduate students with excellent academic records and outstanding potential. Frazier is among 28 students nationwide selected for honorable mention.
The Goldwater scholars program was established by Congress in the 1980s, both to honor the longtime U.S. senator from Arizona and recognize outstanding college and university students in engineering, mathematics and the natural sciences.
"I am honored to receive this national honor," said Frazier, who will graduate in May 2006, after interrupting his classroom studies a year ago to work for a semester in the Washington, D.C. office of Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. "My selection is a testament to the quality of the education that Mississippi State offers."
A senior specializing in computational mechanics, Frazier plans to seek a doctorate in the field. Eventually, he hopes to conduct research in the public service arena at a university or for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He has attended MSU as a Presidential Endowed Scholar, one of the school's two highest honors.
"Kyle is very articulate with a keen sense of where he wants to go," said Kirk Schulz, dean of MSU's Bagley College of Engineering. "I have heard him speak to prospective students, and he does an exceptional job communicating his enthusiasm for engineering and MSU."
Frazier is a President's List Scholar and a member of the MSU Honors Program. To further enhance his undergraduate education, he will study this summer at the University of Bristol in England. Also, he travels in September to Barcelona, Spain, to participate in the VII International Conference on Computational Plasticity.
"He will present research he has conducted with Dr. Phil Gullett, an MSU assistant professor of civil engineering," honors program director Nancy McCarley said of Frazier, an undergraduate research assistant at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, a major new university research unit.
"What has impressed me most about Kyle is how well-rounded he is," added McCarley. "He possesses a formidable arsenal of academic talents combined with a breadth of interests. He is truly a role model for high-achieving students wishing to make the most of their honors experience."
Frazier, the 2001 valedictorian of Madison Central High School, is the son of Esther Frazier of Madison and the late Terry Frazier. In addition to the University Honors Program, he is a member MSU's Tau Beta Pi and Chi Epsilon engineering honor societies, and Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society.