Recipients of the Sylvia Stein Space Grant Memorial Scholarship typically are engineering students, said Lisa Brown, director of the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium.

This year, Elisabeth Donaldson (junior-biobehavioral health) received the $4,000 scholarship, which is awarded annually to two Penn State students who plan to pursue careers in NASA.

The other winner of the scholarship this year was Adam Morgan (junior-astronomy and astrophysics), for his involvement with the Swift mission, a NASA space observatory based at Penn State.

When Donaldson learned she had been chosen as a recipient, "I was shocked and humbled when I found out," she said. "I figured it was a long shot since I wasn't engineering major."

Donaldson found her connection with NASA as a biobehavioral health student when she found out about the "Healthy Planet" program, which uses a space apparatus to track the spread of chronic and infectious disease for public health organizations to use that information to develop programs.

The program was started in February 2002 by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE).

"It was really great that they recognized my field, because the public health connection to NASA wasn't your traditional tie-in," Donaldson said.

As part of the scholarship, Donaldson has to participate in mentoring and educational outreach for 10 hours each semester to increase interest in NASA. She has decided to travel to farm shows in Harrisburg to recruit younger students for science majors.

"I want to promote the idea that being a science major doesn't mean being stuck in a lab," Donaldson said. "There are people-oriented careers, too."

The scholarship is named in honor of the late Sylvia Stein, former director and founder of the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, which promotes research and training of studies related to space.

Brown said the application process is done online, and students have to outline how their career plans coincide with any of NASA's programs through essays and letters of recommendation.

"Elisabeth was one of the strongest candidates. [She] had a blending of both excellent academic performance and extensive social service in the spirit of the memory scholarship," Brown said.

Donaldson, who plans to graduate in May 2006, said she has always been interested in science, but she didn't form an interest in public health until she started college and began taking biobehavioral health classes.

She was accepted to the Schreyer Honors College last spring and plans to relate her thesis to health promotion, she said.

After college, Donaldson said, she's considering going to graduate school for a master's degree in public health, the field in which she would like to pursue a career.

"I want to lead a government or nonprofit organization in developing health promotion and disease prevention programs that will positively influence people's lives," she said.

Since her freshman year, Donaldson has worked as a research assistant in the lab of Laura Klein, assistant professor of biobehavioral health and one of the professors who wrote Donaldson a letter of recommendation for the scholarship.

Donaldson "is a very integrative thinker, which is unique in an undergraduate student, and she definitely brings an integrative perspective to our research," Klein said. "She also has a great sense of humor and an amazing amount of energy."

Klein said that through this job, Donaldson is learning about different components of research, as well as the biological and behavioral factors and effects of stress on health.

"Another extraordinary thing is that she's so motivated and responsible," Klein said. "Sometimes it's like I'm working with a grad student, because she's already thinking that way."

Donaldson is also an active member of several organizations on campus, including the HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction Advisory Council, a group that operates with University Health Services, using social marketing campaigns to reduce stigmas attached to HIV and to increase awareness about the disease. She is the evaluation chairwoman and traveled to a conference in Tampa, Fla., earlier this month with several of her colleagues to discuss HIV prevention strategies with other schools.

Donaldson is also involved with the Women's Leadership Initiative in the College of Health and Human Development, the Student Red Cross Club, the ballet club and cello choir on campus. Next semester, she will be a faculty senator for the Health and Human Development student council.