Arnold Receives National AASCU Award

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities presented NASA astronaut Richard R. Arnold II ’85 with its 2021 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Selected as an astronaut in May 2004, Arnold has spent 209 days in space on two missions to the International Space Station. During his second mission in 2018, Arnold combined his passions for teaching and science as part of NASA’s Year of Education on Station. Along with his flight engineer duties, Arnold connected to schoolchildren through live video downlinks, conducting experiments and lesson plans left unfinished by Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger accident.

A former math and science teacher at schools in Romania, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Indonesia, Arnold also serves as director of the University of Maryland’s Center for STEM Engagement. Frostburg awarded Arnold an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 2019.