Richard Skifton was awarded a fellowship for graduate students that will pay him fifty-thousand dollars a year to go to school and get his PhD. Richard is married to Ashley Clark a graduate of Italy High School.

Richard said, “The program is called Natural Energy University Program (NEUP). It is a satellite of the Department of Nuclear Energy. They give the fellowships out every year but they only give them out to about thirty students. I am the first student to ever get this fellowship from the University of Idaho. Usually it goes to students from much larger schools.”

To be considered for the fellowship you have to take your GRE, a test you have to take to get into graduate school, make high marks on that, write several essays depicting what you are going to do during the fellowship-what you are interested in as a career, fill out the application and get letters of recommendation from professors and bosses you currently have.

Skifton currently works for the University of Idaho as a research assistant in the nuclear science department. So this fellowship falls nicely in his plans to complete his education in nuclear science.

When asked to tell a little about himself he replied, “I am from Las Vegas originally, my wife Ashley is from Idaho but was raised in Italy. We have three kids right now, Parker, Colette and Mitchell. We hope to have a few more children. We really are big fans of a big family. My aspirations are probably to stay in academics and be a professor at a university one day.”

When asked what she thought about her husband receiving this fellowship, Ashley replied, “I am so proud of my husband. I am so excited because I know that he is the smartest person alive but I think it is wonderful that someone else recognizes all the hard work he does. He does work very hard, a lot of times after we have put the kids to bed he will stay up and do homework and research. He really makes a lot of sacrifices to raise a family at the same time he is furthering his education. I am proud that he did not put off having a family to do his schooling. It is even more impressive that he not only won this fellowship but that he is recognized as a very dedicated and intelligent student while he is also raising three children and taking care of his family while he is doing it.”

Congratulations Skiftons and Good Luck!