Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Senior Mississippi State civil engineering major Kyle A. Frazier of Madison is receiving 2005-06 scholarships totaling $4,000 from two nationally prestigious societies in his professional field.
Frazier has won a $2,000 Nagel Scholarship from Tau Beta Pi national engineering honor society to help conclude his final year of study. The award is named in honor of Tau Beta Pi secretary-treasurer emeritus R.H. Nagel.
The 2001 Madison Central High School valedictorian also is a selection for the $2,000 Y.C. Yang Civil Engineering Scholarship of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Covering tuition expenses in the 2005 fall term, it is one of only two scholarships the organization awards each year.
In addition to the national honors, Frazier recently received a $750 American Society of Civil Engineers/Mississippi Section Scholarship presented during the group's meeting in Oxford.
Earlier this spring, Frazier was among 28 students nationwide named as a 2005 Honorable Mention Goldwater Scholar. The Goldwater scholars program was established by Congress in the 1980s to honor the late U.S. senator from Arizona, Barry Goldwater.
Frazier interrupted his classroom studies a year ago to work for a semester in the Washington, D.C. office of Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. He has been specializing in computational mechanics and plans to graduate next May, then seek a doctorate.
Tau Beta Pi's Fellowship Board selected 69 scholars from among 180 applicants for undergraduate study during the next academic year; only 12 were awarded to civil engineering students. The awards recognize high scholarship, campus leadership and service, and promise of future contributions in the engineering profession.
Yang Scholars are selected on the basis of the applicant's educational plan, demonstrated interest in structural engineering, academic performance and standing, development potential, and leadership capacity, among other criteria.
Frazier, the son of Esther Frazier of Madison and the late Terry Frazier, is an MSU President's List Scholar. In addition to Tau Beta Pi and Chi Epsilon engineering honor societies, he is a member of the MSU Honors Program and Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Nancy McCarley, director of the University Honors Program and Office of Distinguished Scholarships, at (662) 325-2522 or nmccarley@honors.msstate.edu.