Gary W. McCollum Endowment for Undergraduate Students

Gary McCollum received two degrees from East Texas State University; a Bachelor of Science in 1962 and Master of Science in 1963. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force where he served as a research and development project officer at the Air Force Armament Laboratory at Eglin AFB, FL. Upon completing his military service in 1966, Gary joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He began his NASA career as a program analyst in the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. During his 38 years with the American space program, he served as a quarantine control officer in preparation for the Apollo lunar landing missions; worked as the manager of medical surveillance program for the Apollo and Skylab flight crews; developed life science experiments as the discipline manager for the first Spacelab Life Sciences mission and was a payload integration manager with the National Space Transportation Systems Program Office.

Mr. McCollum was transferred to NASA Head quarters in Washington , D.C. where he managed four Spacelab mission payloads, the STS-40/Dedicated Life Science Mission , STS-47/Dedicated Japanese Mission, STS-58/Second Dedicated Life Sciences Mission, and STS-65/Intemational Microgravity Laboratory-2 Mission; a cooperative flight with the Canadian Space Agency , the German Space Agency , the French Space agency, the European Space Agency , the Japanese Space Agency and NASA to conduct experiments in life sciences and microgravity sciences. His numerous honors include: Distinguished Military Graduate, National Defense Service Medal,
1970 Outstanding Young Men of America, NASA Silver Snoopy Award and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.

Mr. McCollum retired from NASA in 2004 after a long and distinguished career. He and his wife Barbara are the parents of two sons, Scott and Greg, and one daughter, Cynthia, and have nine grandchildren.