AIAA Foundation Presents Scholarships to the Three Winners of the 2013 Iridium NEXT Scholarship Competition Written 11 July 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: DUANE HYLAND
(AIAA Communications 2008–2017)
703.264.7558
duaneh@aiaa.org

Scholarships Recognize Student Excellence in STEM Subjects

July 11, 2013 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation (AIAA Foundation), the administrator of the Iridium Next Scholarships, is pleased to announce the three scholarship winners for 2013. The winners, all undergraduate students, have demonstrated a very high standard of academic excellence in the “STEM” fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The 2013 winners are:

• Eric McVay, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala., who received a $20,000 scholarship.
• Chelsea Welch, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., who received a $10,000 scholarship.
• Christopher Nie, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., who received a $5,000 scholarship.

The Iridium NEXT Scholarship Fund, administered by the AIAA Foundation, aims to help create a workforce that will further the mission of Iridium NEXT, a bold vision for a second-generation satellite constellation to expand Iridium’s capability to meet rapidly expanding demand for truly global mobile communications on land, at sea, and in the sky.

“The Iridium NEXT scholarship fund makes it possible for its recipients to continue to pursue their aerospace education, free of at least some of the worry that the ever increasing cost of a college education brings,” said AIAA executive director Sandy Magnus. “By awarding these scholarships today, Iridium makes it possible for these students to become the aerospace professionals of tomorrow – to develop technology that brings us together, while increasing our knowledge about the universe in which we live.”

Media Contact: Duane Hyland, duaneh@aiaa.org or 703.264.7558

About Iridium
Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe. Iridium enables connections between people, organizations, and assets anywhere, in real time. Together with its ever-expanding ecosystem of partner companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of reliable solutions for markets that require truly global communications, and it has a major development program underway for its next-generation network – Iridium NEXT. Iridium Communications, Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., and its common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol IRDM. For more information about Iridium products, services, and partner solutions, please visit www.iridium.com.

About the AIAA Foundation
The AIAA Foundation seeks to “make it exciting, make it empowering, and make it fun.” That simple, compelling philosophy drives the Foundation’s commitment to math, science, and technology education. The AIAA Foundation offers a wealth of resources to support educators from K–12 through the university level: scholarships, classroom grants, design competitions, and student conferences, improving scientific literacy and advancing the arts and sciences of aerospace. For more information on the AIAA Foundation and its programs for students, teachers, and professionals, please visit www.aiaafoundation.org.

About AIAA
AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.