STARKVILLE, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – A Mississippi State senior is a Rhodes Scholarship finalist. That puts him one step from one of the top awards a college student can win.
MSU said Tuesday that Evan Garrison will interview Nov. 13 and 14 in Kansas City. He is from Webb City, Missouri.
Garrison studies aerospace engineering and math. He also has three minors. They include artificial intelligence and political science.
What the award pays for
The Rhodes Trust is a British charity. It pays the full cost for students to earn graduate degrees at Oxford in England. MSU says Oxford was the first school of its kind in the English speaking world.
However, a finalist has not won yet. Interviews take place on a Friday and a Saturday. Then the winners are named when the Saturday talks end. This year, that day is Nov. 14.
Only 32 Americans won last year.
Why space junk matters to you
Garrison plans to earn a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering. After that, he wants to help experts and policy makers work together. His focus is orbital debris, which is another name for space junk.
A NASA watchdog report says space junk includes old satellites and parts of spacecraft. It says pieces the size of a marble can damage a spacecraft.
The report also says the junk could hurt things we use each day. That list includes weather forecasts and GPS.
David Hoffman leads the MSU office that helps students apply for awards like this one. “Evan truly fits the characteristics expected of Rhodes scholars,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman also said Garrison does well in class and leads others. He added, “His many accomplishments are a testament to the opportunities available to our students and the excellent faculty mentoring we have here at MSU.”
A big year for Garrison
Earlier this year, Garrison won a Truman Scholarship. He is the 21st MSU student to win it. The award helps students who plan to work in public service. It gives up to $30,000 for graduate school.
This summer, Garrison also studied at Oxford as a visiting student. His work there tied to his senior honors thesis. He took a class on author C.S. Lewis too. In addition, he did research work at the University of Liverpool.
MSU listed other honors as well. For example, the Air Force Research Laboratory named him a Phillips Scholar. He also won the Simrall Award for top work in engineering from MSU’s retired faculty group.
Garrison debates too. MSU said he won a 2026 season long national title in team debate.
MSU’s Rhodes streak
MSU said its students have been Rhodes finalists six years in a row. The school also counts 13 finalists over the last 13 years.
One of them won. In 2013, Donald “Field” Brown of Vicksburg became MSU’s second Rhodes Scholar. He was the first since 1911.
How MSU students can get help
Hoffman’s office is not just for honors students. It works with all current MSU students and recent graduates. So local students at MSU can use it too.
Students can meet in person or online. The office urges them to start as early as freshman year. However, it does not give out financial aid.
To set up a visit, go to the office’s website. You can also call the honors college at (662) 325-2522.
