Scholarships

Arthur Adel (1908-1994) earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan in 1933 and shortly thereafter was hired by Lowell Observatory as an atmospheric researcher. He took up residence at Lowell in 1936 after working for the observatory at facilities in Michigan. In 1942 he left Lowell to do wartime scientific research. He returned to Flagstaff and with US Air Force research funding, he established the Atmospheric Research Observatory in 1952 at Arizona State College, becoming the first research professor at what soon became NAU. He retired from NAU in 1976 and with his wife, Katherine, continued to support both the sciences and the arts at NAU. The NAU Adel trust fund provides scholarships for students in Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy.

Tom Bedwell (d. 2001) earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Nebraska in 1964 and taught in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at NAU from 1964 until he retired in 1982.  The Bedwell trust now provides money for several NAU scholarships.

Wilfred Alexander Bychinsky (1910 – 2013), with a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (1933, U. of Michigan) was an inventor, patent holder, and a leading authority on ignition research and development. He established the Evelyn O. Bychinsky Scholarship in 2009 in honor of his sister. The NAU Bychinsky trust now provides funds to support students in Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy.

Richard Hayes was a physics and astronomy major at NAU. Tragically, he died in an automobile accident in 2003. His family and friends established a scholarship in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in his memory.

The Physics and Astronomy Scholar of Tomorrow Prize, was established by Peter McClean, who was a member of the Northern Arizona University Foundation Board of Directors and the College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences Leadership Council. This Prize is to support full-time undergraduate students majoring in physics and/or astronomy who excel in their studies and demonstrate academic distinction and leadership.

Vesto Melvyn “V.M.” Slipher (1875 – 1969) received his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1909. His entire career was at the Lowell Observatory, which he directed from 1916 to 1952. Much of his attention was devoted to the investigation of astronomical spectroscopy, in particular to the rotations and atmospheres of planets and nebulae. His major contribution was determining that the spectra of the vast majority of external galaxies had red shifts. This crucial discovery laid the foundation for Hubble’s law and the theory of the expansion of the universe.

The Department of Physics & Astronomy awards a number of small merit scholarships each year.