MSU Goldwater Scholars join 2025 Astronaut Scholars Class
Contact: Mary Pollitz
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State’s recent Goldwater Scholars have a new, prestigious title: Astronaut Scholar.
Spencer Lile of Benton, Arkansas, and Brittin Perdue of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, are the university’s latest recipients of the nationally renowned Astronaut Scholarship, a designation that recognizes the best and brightest science-, technology-, engineering- and mathematics-focused students in the U.S.
They are among 74 members of the national Astronaut Foundation’s 2025 Astronaut Scholars Class, and each student will receive up to $15,000 and join a lifelong network of professional mentors and peer researchers.
Lile and Perdue—both students in MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College—also are the university’s 26th and 27th national Barry Goldwater Scholars.
Perdue, an electrical engineering major, plans to pursue a doctoral degree and continue research on precision timing topics such as atomic clocks, frequency control and low-phase noise electronics. He currently works with Precision Timing Research and held research positions with the U.S. Naval Observatory, University of Alabama and MSU’s Ariunbold Ultrafast Spectroscopy Lab. His undergraduate accomplishments include membership in the co-ed professional engineering fraternity Theta Tau and leadership in the university’s chapter of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Lile, a physics and biomedical engineering major concentrating in pre-med, plans to enroll in M.D. and Ph.D. programs and study the computational modeling of the heart. He hopes to work in a lab designing patient-specific treatments for rare disorders. As an MSU student, he served as a Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College residential advisor and as the Residential Advisor Association president since December. In addition to his research in the MSU Department of Chemistry’s Johnson Laboratory, Lile has spent numerous hours shadowing general and plastic surgeons in Arkansas.
Astronaut Scholarships are awarded to juniors and seniors who intend to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degrees. Scholars are selected for their initiative, creativity and excellence in their chosen field. In addition to receiving a financial award, they enjoy networking and mentoring opportunities with astronauts, alumni and industry leaders; participation in the Michael Collins Family Professional Development Program; and a paid trip to attend ASF’s Innovators Week and Gala in Houston, Texas, which provides an opportunity for the scholars to present their research at a technical conference.
MSU nominations for the Astronaut Scholarship are managed by the university’s Office of Prestigious External Scholarships and Director David Hoffman. Contact Hoffman for more information or visit www.honors.msstate.edu/prestigious-external-scholarships. Visit www.astronautscholarship.org/index.html for more information about the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
The Shackouls Honors College is available online at www.honors.msstate.edu.
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.