Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss. —Twelve incoming first-year students and transfers from Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas are recent selections for Mississippi State University’s prestigious Provost Scholarships.

The annual honor includes an academic scholarship, as well as ones for study abroad. Grants for research or creative discovery and an optional travel grant to attend a conference also are included.

To qualify, applicants must have a minimum 30 ACT and minimum 3.75 high school GPA (based on a 4.0 scale). For more, visit www.honors.msstate.edu/scholarships/provost-scholarships.

Selected from more than 500 qualified applicants, the 2017-18 group joins 33 already participating in the program, which is part of MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College.

Third-year program mentor Seth F. Oppenheimer said Provost Scholars serve as research leaders at Mississippi State and share their passion for understanding, exploration and truth with fellow students.

“Whether it is designing a better way to deliver lifesaving drugs using new classes of nanoparticles, uplifting a soul with new poetry, finding ways to feed the multitude of the world’s hungry with new agricultural techniques, or nourishing the hearts of people with new music, Provost Scholars follow the passion of their curiosity with hard work, diligence and creativity,” said Oppenheimer, honors college undergraduate research program director and professor of mathematics and statistics.

The 2017-18 Provost Scholars class includes (by hometown):

BROOKHAVEN—Colton Watson, a freshman chemistry major.

CALEDONIA—Christopher M. Clements, a sophomore aerospace engineering/astronautics major.

COLUMBUS—Mary F. Lee, a freshman biological engineering/biomedical engineering major.   

GULFPORT—James D. Warren, a freshman biological engineering/biomedical engineering major.

LONG BEACH—Chuyen J. Nguyen, a freshman software engineering major.

MADISON—Chirantan Sen Mukherjee, a freshman electrical engineering major.

NEW HAVEN, Missouri—Brady A. Kruse, a freshman computer science major.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas—Mitchell A. Harvey, a freshman chemical engineering major.

PONDER, Texas—Abigail A. Crouse, a sophomore animal and dairy science major.

RUSTON, Louisiana—Hannah L. Scheaffer, a sophomore biochemistry major.

STARKVILLE—Shanika R. Musser, a sophomore civil engineering/environmental engineering major; and Georgiana K. Swan, a sophomore political science major.

Learn more about MSU’s Shackouls Honors College at www.honors.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.