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35 Years of Support to Physics and Astronomy Students:
The Van Nattan-Hansen Scholarship

By Ron Pearson and Darrell Dodge

If you are a graduating high school senior or college undergraduate majoring or planning to major in Astronomy, the physical sciences or mathematics, you are invited to apply for the DAS Van Nattan-Hansen Scholarship. A preference will be given to Astronomy majors. The scholarship fund was started many years ago by William Van Nattan’s family, and grew substantially with additional contribution from Charles Hansen’s family.

William R. Van Nattan (1921-1971) loved astronomy. His enthusiasm continues to enrich, enlighten, and capture the interest of others through his many and varied contributions to astronomy. He was a founding member of both the Denver Astronomical Society (DAS) and the National Amateur Astronomers (NAA). As chairman of the Denver Planetarium Committee in 1955, he was instrumental in providing a planetarium for the people of Denver at the Natural History Museum. For many years Van Nattan assisted in teaching astronomy at the University of Denver's Chamberlin Observatory.

Charles Hansen was also an avid supporter of Denver astronomy. Upon his death he left a significant portion of his estate to the Denver Astronomical Society for use in supporting the Fund.

To honor their memories, this scholarship fund was established by the Denver Astronomical Society in 1973. In the 35 years since, the scholarship has assisted at least 27 students of astronomy and physical sciences or mathematics, providing over $28,000 in assistance for their education. Through the gifts and contributions of many friends of astronomy, the Fund continues to provide scholarships to high school and undergraduate students.

Each year approximately two $1000 scholarships may be awarded to students in good academic standing who have demonstrated intent and merit to pursue a career in the physical sciences or mathematics. Priority is given to students of astronomy, astrophysics and related fields.

Catching Up With Previous Van Nattan-Hansen Scholarship Winners

A recent internet search of Scholarship winners from the 1970’s and 1980’s found at least five who have gone on to become professional astronomers or physicists who could be positively linked to the scholarship. One Van Nattan-Hansen graduate went on to a career in optics that wasn’t related to astronomy. Thumbnail sketches are provided below, together with the year(s) of their scholarships and the amounts (if known).

Dr. Mark Bottorff (1978, amount NA; 1979, $200.00; 1980, $250.00)
Dr. Bottorff was a DAS Associate member in the 1970’s, and is familiar to DAS members as a companion at local star parties and a frequent speaker at DAS general meetings. He is an Assistant Professor of Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas. Mark's research over the years has focused on quasars, the super massive black holes that serve as the most powerful energy sources in the universe. He began studying quasars while earning his Ph.D. and working as a research assistant at the University of Kentucky. He stayed for three years as a post-doctoral researcher and wrote papers based on quasar information gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Dr. Brad Schaefer (prior to 1979; amounts NA)
Dr. Schaefer received his Ph.D in Astronomy and Astrophysics from MIT in 1983. He is now a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana State University. A prime interest of his research has been to use the photometry of exploding objects to get results of interest for cosmology. He has recently been involved in the exploration of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as “standard candles” for use in cosmological investigations out to red shifts from ~0.2 to 20. This allows GRBs to be light sources for the detection of the Gunn-Peterson effect, the creation of a Hubble Diagram from 0.2<z<10, and measuring the star formation rate of the Universe out to z~20.

Dr. C. Nick Arge (1981, $500.00; 1983, $400.00)
Dr. Arge is a prize-winning researcher who does work in the areas of coronal and solar wind modeling for the purpose of forecasting the solar wind near Earth. Dr. Arge received his B.S. in Physics at the University of Arizona in 1985, with support from the Van Nattan-Hansen scholarship. He went on to receive an M.S. Degree in Physics at the University of Michigan in 1988, and a Ph.D. in Physics in 1997 at the University of Delaware. He worked for the University of Colorado and NOAA in Boulder, Colorado from 1996 to 2003. He has worked at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, since 2003 and is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of New Mexico.

Joseph Pesce (1984, $300.00; 1986, $575.00; 1987, $500.00)
Joseph Pesce is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. His recent research includes observations of the orbiting Chandra observatory of the X-ray environment of a sample of 6 BL Lacertae objects (active galaxies characterized by rapid and large amplitude flux variability and significant optical polarization.)

Anthony Gojanovic (1982, $450.00; 1983, $400.00)
Mr. Gojanovic’s recent work included a simulation of the “Survival Probabilities of a Lander Mission on Mars” for the University of Colorado, Denver.

James Zavislan, Ph.D. (1980, $500.00; 1981, $350.00)
Dr. Zavislan chose not to enter the field of physics and astronomy, but used his B.S. Degree in Optics and his Ph.D. in Optics in 1988 (from the University of Rochester) to do research improving the performance of optical imaging systems for biomedical, material science, and remote sensing applications. He is an inventor or co-inventor on 42 issued U.S. patents, an author or co-author on 20 papers, and the co-editor of a book on optical systems. His current area of research is skin imaging. He holds two associate professorships at The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, in New York.

Recent winners of the scholarship include Adrian Akerson; Debra Davis, who operates the “Women in Astronomy” Web site; and Stephanie Pahl, now an instructor of mathematics at Metro State University in Denver.

Winners of the scholarship in 2007 included DAS Student Member and Littleton High School Graduate, Naomi Pequette, and Bear Creek High School senior Sara Simon. Last year, Naomi won the Astronomical League’s National Young Astronomer of the Year award and is now pursuing her undergraduate degree at DU. Sara Simon is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Astronomy at CU. Each received a $1,000 scholarship award.

• Applicants must either be graduating high school seniors or undergraduate college
  students in good standing.
• Enrollment equivalent to a half-time load for the academic term as defined by the institution
• Applicants will be considered no more than 5 times for a fulltime student and 8 times for a half-time student

All requests for consideration should be accompanied by the following information:

• Transcripts showing a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent)
• A dated and signed letter of intent demonstrating the applicant's interest and the declared major
• Letters of recommendation from at least 2 reputable sources

Information provided by all applicants becomes the property of the Van Nattan-Hansen Scholarship Committee. Please send copies of required information as appropriate. Documents cannot be returned.

Awards and Judging

Scholarship awards shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, ethnic or national origin, religion, or disabilities. The decision of the Van Nattan-Hansen Scholarship Committee shall be considered final.
 

• Chair: Ron Pearson, ursamajor_1@mac.com
• Ivan Geisler
• Darrell Dodge
• Tim Pimental
• Brenda Wray