Benjamin Bettis, a doctoral student in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been awarded a 2010 NASA Aeronautics Graduate Fellowship.

NASA received more than 100 applications nationwide; only five proposals were accepted. Bettis, who is from Hillsboro, Mo., is doing Ph.D. work in aerospace engineering. His research proposal was on the quantification of uncertainties in aerodynamic heating of a hypersonic re-entry vehicle.

The fellowship consists of a $35,000 annual stipend for two years (with an option for a third year), up to $11,000 per year to be used for tuition and other educational expenses, and two $10,000 summer internships at a NASA research center.

With the NASA award, Bettis will continue his research on “uncertainty quantification in high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics for high-temperature hypersonic flows applied to the aerospace vehicle analysis and design.” He is working with his advisor, Dr. Serhat Hosder, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T.

Bettis was also selected to receive a highly competitive research award from the Air Force, but he turned down the offer in favor of the NASA fellowship.

“I believe only a few students in the nation can be in the same position as Ben,” Hosder says.”Both fellowships are very prestigious and given to exceptionally qualified graduate student researchers in the nation.”