Aspirnaut Archive — Page 1 of 2

A child in glasses and a red shirt pitches a cricket ball across a grassy field toward a blurred batter in the foreground; cricket stumps stand between them, with a brick building and trees in the background.
July 7, 2026

Kris Rehm on caring for children beyond the clinic and in the community

Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed, and we know their health is shaped by much more than clinical care.

Billy Hudson, PhD, wearing a tuxedo and a red, white, and blue medal ribbon at an Ellis Island Honors Society event.
May 22, 2026

Billy Hudson receives 2026 Ellis Island Medal of Honor  

The Ellis Island Medals of Honor rank among the nation’s most renowned awards, officially recognized by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, with each year’s recipients listed in the Congressional Record.  

By Craig Boerner
Billy G. Hudson, PhD, stands indoors in a navy suit, light blue shirt, pink patterned tie and glasses, with his hands clasped, in front of a brick-and-stone building interior.
February 25, 2026

Billy Hudson named 2026 Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipient

Leaders in government, business, military, media and technology will be honored with the prestigious Ellis Island Medals of Honor on May 16 during gala on Ellis Island.

By Craig Boerner and Bill Snyder
A student in a white laboratory coat and teal gloves operates a laboratory instrument beside shelves of supplies. The adjacent graphic reads “Summer 2025” and “Aspirnauts go ‘five to seven years into the future’,” with the caption “Aspirnaut student Hamdi Mohamed.”
July 31, 2025

High school researchers at VUMC glimpse the future

They were part of the Aspirnaut program, which prepares high school and college students, primarily from rural areas, for careers in the STEM fields.

By Bill Snyder
Group portrait of 18 Aspirnaut Lu-Springer Research Scholars wearing white lab coats and standing outside an arched stone building entrance.
March 31, 2025

$5 million gift from Springer-Lu Family Foundation to support VUMC’s Aspirnaut program

Aspirnaut is a K-20 STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) pipeline that supports immersive summer research experiences for talented high school and undergraduate students.

By Sarah Wolf
The 2024 Aspirnaut Undergraduate Summer Research Interns. Front row, from left, Dolma Choenzom, Kimberly Hoang, Martina Gergis, and Marquala Whitman. Second row, from left, Eun Jun Wang, Anna Ruth Madera, Adrian Castañeda, and Shawn Jamison. Third row, from left, Freddiemae Thompson, Jalen L. Smith, Colton Miller, and John Bister. Fourth row, from left, Ryan Anderson, Emma Meihofer, and Kyle Vallone. (photo by Susan Urmy)
August 8, 2024

Aspirnaut research interns reach for the stars

The next day, the students, interns in the 16th summer research session of the Aspirnaut STEM pipeline program for diversity, were bound for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

By Bill Snyder