2002 Zia Award FRED BEGAY
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ur next award recipient, Fred Begay, began life on the Ute Reservation in Towaoc, Colorado, and was trained in farming at BIA schools. Today he is a nuclear physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Between the farm and the lab, Fred served in the Korean Conflict, spent eleven years of hard work at UNM earning his BS, MS and PhD, and displayed a good deal of talent and inspiration. Currently, Fred is a senior staff physicist at Los Alamos, assistant for science and technology to the president and vice president of the Navajo Government, and president of the Seaborg Hall of Science. The Seaborg Hall of Science is an independent, non-profit education and research institution dedicated to providing public services to the Navajo community in science and technology matters. Fred has had teaching appointments at both Stanford and the University of Maryland. Fred is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Nuclear Society. He is especially concerned about public literacy in science and technology. Fred has received the Ely Parker Award from the American Indian Society for Engineering and Science, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Science Foundation, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science and other awards from the Department of Energy and the Navajo Government.
Fred’s life has been documented in three TV films and in numerous articles. We are pleased to be able to show our admiration of Fred with the Alumni Association Zia Award.