Red Huber | Orlando Sentinel | MCT

From left, Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11, and Walt Cunningham, Apollo 7, are shown on July 16, 2009, in front of a Apollo 14 crew capsule at the Apollo Treasures Gallery at Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center in Florida. Cunningham came to campus on Thursday to present a $10,000 award to a Wash. U. senior.

Senior Kaitlin Burlingame, a mechanical engineering student who has done extensive research while at Washington University, received a $10,000 award from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Thursday afternoon.

Retired NASA astronaut Walt Cunningham presented it to her in a ceremony on campus.

“I’m really excited, [and] I’m just honored to have been chosen and to have the opportunity to meet Walt Cunningham and join this larger community of astronaut scholars and the Foundation,” Burlingame said.

Burlingame was nominated for this award by the faculty in the engineering department. She was chosen with 20 other students for the award nationwide.

“I think it’s a tremendous honor for [Kaitlin],” said Philip Bayly, her academic adviser and chair of Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science. “Not only is she really good in the classroom…but she’s always done a lot of things outside of school which have been really unusual and really interesting.”

According to the award’s website, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s mission “is to aid the United States in retaining its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships for college students who exhibit motivation, imagination, and exceptional performance.”

Burlingame believes that she received the award because of the research she has done at the University; she worked on a satellite team since her freshman year. She also interned at NASA and did research in Germany.

At the University, students are encouraged to form groups and enter a nanosatellite competition in which they design and built nanosatellites through NASA. As a freshman, Burlingame participated on a team.

“She’s not arrogant, she’s down to earth,” Bayly said. “She’s won the respect and affection of the other students. They want to participate and help get the job done because of course she’s willing to put her time and effort into getting the job done. So I think she’s got clear leadership skills.”

Burlingame decided to further her studies by proposing an independent research opportunity in Germany last summer. She worked on grinding wheels and learned about research institutions in different countries.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation has given over $3 million in scholarships to students since 1986, including almost $200,000 to Washington University students.

At every award ceremony, an astronaut comes to present the award.

This year, Burlingame joins students from schools such as Tufts University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvey Mudd College who have also received scholarships.

Burlingame plans to work toward her master’s degree after graduation and wants to go into the engineering industry in the future, but she has no specific work plans yet.

She advises current students to get involved in research themselves.

“I’d say just to try it…and talk to a professor and see how you can get involved,” Burlingame said. “When I first started doing the satellite stuff, I was a BME student, and I was just like, ‘I have an extra pair of hands.’ You never really get to do anything unless you go out there and try.”