UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

Undergraduate Application Instructions

The 2013 NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program Application is now open. 

Important Information to Know Before Applying

Applicants will need to register for a new account before they will be able to start the application. The applicant will input their name and email address and choose a password.

A sidebar is located at the left of each application page. Use this sidebar to navigate the application. Applicants may complete the application sections in any order. At any time, the applicant may click on the "Overall Status" link in the sidebar to view information about how much of the application is complete. These are the areas of the application:

• Application Walk-Through
• Contact Information
• Citizenship and Demographics
• Academic Background
• Proposed Area of Study
• Publications & Presentations
• Awards & Honors
• Personal Statement
• Aeronautics Essay
• References
• How Did You Hear About NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program?
• Transcripts

Application Walk-Through

The following is a guide to the application, where you will see what questions will be asked and provided with information on how to answer some of them. Questions that appear on the application in yellow and have asterisks next to them are mandatory. At the bottom of each section where you can enter data, there is a "Save" button. Click this button after entering data to save. Once you have clicked this button, your data is saved and you may move to another area of the application, or leave the application and continue at a later time.

Once all required sections are complete, and once you are satisfied that your application is finished, click the "Submit Application" button in the sidebar and select "Yes" to submit. You will not be able to submit your application if any of the required sections are not complete. You may want to consider asking your advisor to review your application before it is submitted. With the exception of the contact information and references sections, you cannot change any of your responses after you have submitted your application. You may update your contact information after you submit the application to ensure that you can be reached. You may also edit, add, or delete references after you submit your application, and monitor the status of received reference forms, transcripts, and GRE scores.

Contact Information

1. Name - Enter your name and any other name which may appear on your transcripts or reference letters.
2. Resident state - Enter the state of which you are a resident for tuition purposes.
3. Email - Enter your primary email address. Information about your application, including official award notification, will be sent to this email address.
4. Secondary Email- Enter a secondary email for up to date information (please ensure this is not a school email address) 
5. Primary address - Enter your primary (mailing) address. Same as your primary email address, information about your application, including official award notification, will be sent to your primary address.
6. Secondary address - Enter your permanent address.
7. Phone numbers - List a phone number where you can be reached in April 2013. The primary phone number should be your preferred telephone number. You may optionally provide a secondary telephone number in the alternate/mobile phone number field. If your mobile phone number is your preferred method of telephone contact, list it in the primary phone number field.

This information can be edited at any time, even after you submit your application. Simply login and select "Contact Information," then enter and save the updated information.

Please be sure to keep your contact information current so that announcements will reach you.

Citizenship and Demographics

All applicants must be U.S. citizens or nationals. A U.S. national is an individual who, though not a citizen of the U.S., owes permanent allegiance to the United States. Individuals who are citizens of U.S. territories such as American Samoa and Swain's Island are U.S. nationals. The term does not refer to permanent residents. Permanent residents are not eligible. An individual with dual citizenship may need to renounce their non US citizenship.

Citizenship information

1. U.S. Citizen or National - Select "I am a U.S. citizen," "I am a U.S. national," "I am dual citizen" or "I am not a U.S. citizen or national." If you are not a U.S. citizen or national, you are not eligible for the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program.
2. Are you registered with Selective Service? - Select "I am not required to register," "Yes" or "No."

Birth Information

1. Please indicate your date of birth.
2. Enter the city, state, and country of birth.

Demographic Information

Gender, Ethnicity, Race, and Disability - This information will not be provided to evaluators, and does not impact your eligibility in any way. It is used to determine the degree to which members of diverse sections of the eligible population are aware of and apply for this program. See the ASEE Privacy Act Statement.

Academic Background

Current Academic Status - Enter your current academic status (all possible choices are listed in the drop box under academic status) and the name of your current academic advisor. If you are not currently enrolled in an academic institution, select the highest level completed in your academic career.

Schools - Add a new school and enter information about it, or edit information already entered. Saved schools will display information about whether a transcript from that institution is required or not. This information will also be reflected on the "Overall Status" page.

1. Add new school
   • Select/edit school - Select the state of the institution you attend/attended and click "Next," or if it is not in the United States, enter the institution's name, city, and country. If you selected a state and clicked "Next," select the school from the list that appears, or enter its name and city if it is not on the list. Click "Next."
   • Studies - Enter your degree obtained or pursued; your major; the dates you attended the school or expected graduation date; and whether you attend/attended the school as an undergraduate, graduate, or other status.
   • For each school you must also enter:
     • Cumulative GPA: Please enter your GPA as it appears on your academic transcript. If your institution does not use GPAs, please contact us at nasa.asp@asee.org
     • Base GPA: Indicate the highest GPA possible at the school (ex. 4.0, 4.3, 5.0, etc.).
     • GPA credits: Only total the credits which were used in calculating your GPA.
     • School term system: Indicate whether the school uses a semester, quarter, or trimester calendar.
2. Edit or Delete School
   • If you would like to make changes to a school's information or delete the school, click on the appropriate link underneath the school listed.

Proposed Area of Study

Proposed Discipline and Area of Specialization - Select your proposed discipline from the drop-down list provided. Next, specify your area of research within that discipline.

1. Discipline - You should select the discipline to which your particular course of study is most closely related. If you are uncertain as to which discipline is most appropriate, consult with your academic advisor. Panels reserve the right to forward an application to another discipline for further consideration if they judge that doing so may increase your chances of being selected for an award.
2. Area of Specialization- Describe your area of specialization within your chosen discipline. For example, an applicant within the Physics discipline might enter "optics" or "acoustics" in this text box. If you do not have an area of specialization, enter the discipline.

Proposed Academic Program - Indicate the degree for which you seek funding; your estimated date of completion of the degree for which you seek funding; and whether you are currently enrolled in the degree program for which you seek funding.

Proposed Academic Institution - Select or enter the name and location of the institution at which you propose to earn your degree. The academic institution must be a regionally accredited U.S. college or university. If you are undecided, enter "Undecided."

1. Select/edit institution - Select the state of the academic institution you plan to attend and click "Next." Select the school from the list that appears, or enter its name and city if it is not on the list. Click "Next." You may only select one proposed academic institution.
2. Indicate whether you are currently enrolled in this institution.
3. Indicate whether you have been accepted by this institution.

Publications & Presentations

Publications & Presentations- Enter all relevant publications and presentations pertaining to your field since entering college. These may include articles, journal submissions, and conference proceedings.

1. Add new publication or presentation - List the authors, title of the presentation or publication, when presented or published, and where presented or in what journal published. Click "Save this publication or presentation."
2. Edit/delete publication or presentation - Click the appropriate link beneath the item you wish to edit or delete and make the changes or confirm the deletion.
3. If you do not have any publications or presentations to report, indicate this by clicking on the "No publications or presentations to report" check box and then the "Save" button.

Awards & Honors

Enter all scholarships, academic honors, scientific or engineering student leadership roles, honorary societies, and any other recognition relevant to your field since entering college. All awards and honors granted by the U.S. Government should have the "Federal Award" box checked, with the agency granting the award specified in the description, such as NASA or the NSF. It is strongly recommended that you group similar awards together. For example, list together all awards that directly derive from your grade point average such as Dean's List recognition.

1. Add new award or honor - Enter the name of the award, the date received, whether it is a federal award or not, and a brief description of the award. Click "Save this award/honor."
2. Edit/delete award or honor - Click the appropriate link beneath the item you wish to edit or delete and make the changes or confirm the deletion.
3. If you do not have any awards to report, indicate this by clicking on the "No awards or honors to report" check box and then the "Save" button.

Personal Statement

In a concise statement, provide a summary of your current educational program objectives and your long-range professional goals.

As part of this statement, we are interested in your ideas about the kinds of research in which you have engaged and in which you would like to engage during your studies as well as during your expected tenure with the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program. Please address how you think your current program fits with the field of Aeronautics. You should discuss specific research questions that interest you and how you became interested in them. Please discuss these research interests in sufficient detail for an expert who is technically competent in your field to judge your understanding of the questions to be addressed.

Enter your Personal Statement in the text box on this application page. The response bust be a minimum of 1,500 and a maximum of 3,000 characters, including spaces. You may prepare your Personal Statement in a word processor (i.e., to utilize spell-check and grammar-check features) and copy the text into the text box.

Aeronautics Essay

In this section, you must provide an essay describing what you consider to be the greatest technical challenges in aeronautics for the next 20-25 years, and why. You can pick one challenge or several. You should address what types of research will be required to address the challenge(s), and what ideas or concepts you think might help to solve them. You will need to explain the challenge(s) and your proposed concepts in sufficient technical depth to demonstrate your technical understanding, and you will also need to clearly explain why the challenge(s) is/are so important.

You should enter the essay in the text box provided. There is a 10,000 character maximum in this section. You may prepare your Personal Statement in a word processor (i.e., to utilize spell-check and grammar-check features) and copy the text into the text box, if you choose.

References

Enter contact information for three references in order to send a request to each. References should be scientists, engineers, or faculty members who have current or recent knowledge of your academic accomplishments or your professional experiences. They will be contacted electronically and asked to fill out a brief form and attach a reference letter in pdf format.

Three references must be added for you to be able to submit your application. You should confirm the references' information with them prior to adding them to your list. When you click "Add new reference," the information you will need is:

1. Name - The first and last name of the reference.
2. Institution - The current institutional affiliation of the reference.
3. Department - The current departmental affiliation of the reference.
4. Position - The current position of the reference.
5. Email address - Enter the reference's email address. Keep in mind that once you save the email address, you will not be able to change it, and an email will be sent to the reference when you click the "Save this reference" button.
6. Use this reference - If you select "Yes," this reference will be included in your final application. Select the appropriate "Yes" or "No" button depending on whether you want to use the reference or not. You can change this at any time, including after you submit your application.
7. Click "Save this reference."

When you click the "Save this reference" button, the reference will automatically be notified via e-mail and sent a link to fill out a reference form.

If you wish to send a reminder email to a reference, click on "Send reminder email" underneath the reference to who you wish to send a reminder. If you wish to edit or delete a reference, click on the appropriate link underneath the reference you wish to edit or delete, and then either edit the information or confirm deletion. You will not be able to change their email address.

You are responsible for ensuring that three reference forms are submitted to ASEE by your references prior to the application deadline. You may login and monitor which references have been received at any time, though you will not be able to review the contents of the materials received.

How Did You Hear About NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program

Indicate how you learned about the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program.

The How Did You Hear About NASA Aeronautics Scholarship? This section of the application is voluntary. Information on how applicants learn of the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program is collected in this section of the application in order to determine the effectiveness of the outreach campaign in reaching diverse sections of the eligible population.

Official Transcripts

The NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program will determine which transcripts are required based on the information you provide in the "Academic Background" section of the application. You can view the transcripts needed to complete your application in the "Academic Background" section as well as in the "Overall Status" section of your application.

It is recommended that you request transcripts immediately upon deciding to apply. Allow at least four weeks for most institutions to respond to a request for transcripts. Transcripts must show completed coursework as of the application opening date of September 2012; if you started at your current school in Fall 2012, therefore, transcripts are not required. It is highly recommended that students do not wait until January to send in their transcripts. Please ensure that your transcripts are submitted as soon as possible.

High school seniors and freshman please note that we will need an official copy of your high school transcript to evaluate your academic credentials for the scholarship.

As ASEE receives your transcripts, the "Overall Status" page on your application will be updated, which you can use to monitor transcript status even after you submit your application. 

We accept only official transcripts. It is highly advised to submit transcripts well in advance of the deadline. 

Transcripts should be mailed to:

NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program
1818 N St, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036

Privacy Act Statement

• http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html