texas a&m university senior kevin yao 23 has been selected to receive a $10 000 scholarship from the astronaut scholarship foundation (asf) yao who is pursuing dual bachelor's degrees in computer engineering and mathematics is one of two 2022 texas a&m recipients along with mack cleveland '23 a senior materials science and engineering major with a minor in mathematics the 2022 astronaut scholars class includes 68 students from 45 different partnering universities across the nation each was selected based on demonstrated initiative creativity and excellence in undergraduate research and academics in their fields as well as their potential to become leaders in their scientific and professional pursuits retired nasa astronaut and us air force colonel eileen collins the first woman to pilot the space shuttle and first to command a space shuttle mission will present yao and cleveland with their astronaut scholar awards october 18 as part of a 10 am astronaut day ceremony in rudder auditorium on the texas a&m campus the program which is co-sponsored by texas a&m launch along with the astronaut scholarship foundation also will feature a public lecture by collins the event is free and open to the public but tickets are required for entry and are available for download or in-person pick-up through the memorial student center box office yao's research applies his engineering and computer science experience toward medical applications including a telemedicine app that uses machine learning and computer vision to screen for strokes in patients the app was developed with houston methodist hospital chief of medical physics and chief research information officer stephen t wong who also is an adjunct faculty member in the texas a&m department of biomedical engineering yao published his research in the ieee xplore digital library in november 2021 in addition yao discovered a connection between immune infiltration and chromosome 20q in colon cancer patients through research conducted under chao cheng at baylor college of medicine as a member of cheng's lab yao created a model to analyze the effect of gene expression on cancer prognosis and found that inter-gene expressions are more informative than singular gene expressionmost recently yao spent the past summer as a software development intern at amazon while concurrently working with a startup to research cryptocurrency bridges after graduation he plans to pursue an md as well as a phd in computer engineering en route to a career developing biomedical devices and applications while working as a researcher and practitioner for more than 35 years the astronaut scholarship foundation has identified and supported the best and brightest undergraduate students pursuing educations in stem (science technology engineering and mathematics) fields across the nation the astronaut scholarship is known for being among the most significant merit-based scholarships awarded to undergraduate stem students candidates must be nominated by faculty of the participating universities based on their display of initiative creativity and excellence in their chosen field in addition to a scholarship and membership in the astronaut scholar honor society award recipients are given the opportunity to present at the scholar technical conference and attend the astronaut scholarship foundations innovators week & gala as well as engage in lifelong professional development and mentoring programs with astronauts and astronaut scholar alumni since the scholarships inception in 1986 texas a&m has had 37 honorees including 17 from the college of arts and sciences: yao (2022); cosmas kravaris and ryan rahman (applied mathematics/statistics and biology 2021); johnathan lo (molecular and cell biology/statistics 2020); oscar gonzalez (chemistry 2019); ashley hayden (biology 2018); brooke versaw (chemistry 2017); kristin maulding and will linz (molecular and cell biology and applied mathematics 2015); amelie berger (environmental geoscience 2014); dillon amaya (meteorology 2013); david rahmani (physics 2009); susan koons (applied mathematics/psychology 2008); justin wilson (mathematics/physics 2005 and 2006); benjamin aurispa (mathematics 2004); john stewart iv (physics/mathematics 2002 and 2003) and phyllis mcadoo (geophysics 1992) the astronaut scholarship foundation was established in 1984 by the six surviving mercury 7 astronauts to aid the united states in retaining world leadership in the development of cutting edge science and technology today more than 100 astronauts from the mercury gemini apollo skylab and space shuttle programs have joined in the mission resulting in more than $7 million in scholarships to more than 700 of the nations top scholars as well as technological innovations across the healthcare energy defense aerospace and homeland security sectors for more information on the astronaut scholarship and other national and international awards recognizing student academic achievement please see the national fellowships section of the launch website