Since 2005, 22 OU students have been named recipients of the prestigious Astronaut Scholarship, which recognizes the brightest and most talented college students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The scholarship was established by former Mercury 7 astronauts—including Oklahoma’s own Gordon Cooper—to encourage students to pursue scientific excellence. Below is a list of OU's Astronaut Scholars and the academic disciplines they represented.

2005: Nathan Snook, meteorology

2006 and 2007:  Ryan East, aerospace engineering

2008:  Craig Schwartz, meteorology

2009:  Zachary Flamig, meteorology

2010:  Heather Rigdon Hollen Jones, electrical engineering and geography

2011:  Bradley Pirtle, computer engineering

2013:  Michael Reynolds, physics

2014:  Daniel Grimmer, engineering and mathematics

2015:  Ben Toms, civil engineering; Brandon Curd, astrophysics

2016:  Christine Greve, aerospace engineering

2017:  Matthew Peters, physics, astrophysics and mathematics

2018:  Collin Dabbieri, astrophysics

2019:  Emily Thomas, biomedical medicine and engineering

2020:  Devon Colby, chemistry and biochemistry

2021:  Shane Flandermeyer, electrical engineering

2022:  Cora DeFrancesco, astrophysics and math; Mulan Tang, biomedical engineering

2023:  Hamilton Young, biomedical engineering; Lucia Torres, electrical engineering

2024:  Cayman Matson, biomedical engineering; Brooke Rogachuk, aerospace engineering