Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Recent Mississippi State graduate Angela M. Spence of Brandon is receiving this year's Sigma Gamma Tau/Ammon S. Andes Award, which recognizes the top U.S. university aerospace engineering major.
Spence, who received her May degree summa cum laude, was chosen from among regional winners of the aerospace engineering honor society's annual undergraduate awards program to recognize accomplishments of students beginning their professional careers. She received a plaque and $250 cash award.
A memorial to the late University of Kansas administrator and longtime SGT executive secretary-treasurer, the Andes award is presented annually to one outstanding student for exceptional academic achievement and participation in extracurricular activities. Spence is the third from MSU to receive the honor since the early 1980s.
"To be presented the Ammon S. Andes Award from Sigma Gamma Tau is very exciting because the students eligible for the award represent the best aerospace engineering students in the country," said Spence, one of just 82 national selections for USA Today's 2004 All-USA College Academic Team.
"I am honored that my experiences and academic record warrant my inclusion in such a group," added Spence, who also was a 2002 Ottilie Schillig Leadership Scholar and a 2003 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar for excellence in undergraduate research.
Spence was nominated for the latest honor within MSU's SGT chapter and subsequently advanced to regional competition. She was among eight regional winners who competed for the top national prize.
"Angela was one of the more exceptional students I have known in my time as a faculty member at MSU," said Kirk Schulz, dean of MSU's Bagley College of Engineering. "She was the ultimate combination of intelligence, leadership skills and perseverance. I have no doubt she will be successful in everything she does."
Previous MSU winners of the Andes award were Letha Robinson in 1981 and David Bridges in 1986. Bridges, now an MSU associate professor of aerospace engineering, was Spence's faculty adviser.
"Having won the award as a student, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in being the faculty adviser for the MSU chapter and having one of our students win the award," said Bridges. "In a sense, it closes the circle or, better still, it re-starts the cycle."
Spence is beginning her career this summer as an aerospace engineer at Eglin Air Force Base near Fort Walton Beach, Fla. She also plans to begin work toward a master's degree next school year, while maintaining her relationship with Sigma Gamma Tau.
During her undergraduate studies at MSU, Spence conducted research projects at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
A self-described "voracious reader" of Jane Austen novels and Tom Clancy's "political thrillers," she also enjoys playing the piano and currently is training to participate in a triathlon.
Spence's father Cheney Spence is an executive at Jackson's BankPlus, while her stepmother Diana is a property manager for the Bryan Co. They reside in Brandon.
Her mother, Jane Jackson of Philadelphia, is a former high school history teacher who teaches adult education at East Central Community College.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Julie Lemons at (662) 325-8098 or jlemons@engr.msstate.edu.