ANN ARBOR—Nicholas Triantafillou, a senior at the University of Michigan, has been awarded a $10,000 scholarship by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Triantafillou is majoring in mathematics and computer science in the Honors Program in U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He also is a course assistant for the honors mathematics sequence and is leading an honors freshman seminar on games and puzzles. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics after graduation and hopes to conduct research and teach at a university.

The Astronaut Scholarship is the largest monetary award given in the United States to science, mathematics and engineering undergraduate students based solely on merit. This is the third year in a row that a student in U-M’s Mathematics Department has been awarded an Astronaut Scholarship. Since 2007, $40,000 has been awarded to U-M students.

Nationwide, 22 scholarships were awarded for the 2012-2013 academic year through the foundation, totaling $220,000.

“Receiving the Astronaut Scholarship is a tremendous honor,” Triantafillou said. “Astronauts have excited generations of Americans—myself included—by demonstrating the capabilities of the human scientific spirit. Recognition from these heroes is an inspiring vote of confidence as I seek to reflect their spirit of scientific adventure in my quest to understand and explore the world of mathematics.”

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was created in 1984 by the Mercury 7 astronauts to ensure that the United States would maintain its leadership in science and technology by supporting some of the very best science and engineering college students. Today, more than 100 astronauts from the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and Space Station programs have joined this educational endeavor.

Scholarship candidates must be nominated by faculty members and be studying mathematics, engineering or sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, earth science or computer science. Students also must demonstrate intentions to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degrees. Scholarship nominees are students who have shown initiative, creativity and excellence in their chosen field.