Reginald F. Buller Endowment Scholarship

In June 2002, Betty Buller Whitehead, daughter of the late Reginald F. Buller, endowed this award to celebrate her father’s life and his service to SDSU’s Mount Laguna Observatory. The Reginald F. Buller Award for Service replaces and expands the earlier Mount Laguna Observatory Associates (MLOA) Service Award, which was not endowed. However, the MLOA Board has elected to make regular contributions to the endowment or actual award in an effort to raise the level of support for the students. Individual MLOA members are also encouraged to make contributions in the memory of Reg Buller.

Reg was the founding president of the MLOA, an organization that supports the scientific and educational programs of the observatory. He was by trade an industrial chemist with B.S. from the University of Illinois and a Master’s from Stanford University. However, Reg was an avid life-long amateur astronomer with a passion for visual observation and public outreach and service in astronomy. Faculty and students remember him for his grace, dignity, warmth, and contagious grin. In addition to being an influential charter member of the MLOA, Reg donated two of his personal telescopes to SDSU in 1988. Thousands of people enjoy the view through these telescopes annually. At MLO, the 21-inch Buller Reflecting Telescope is the centerpiece of our Summer Visitor’s Program sponsored jointly with the United States Forest Service. SDSU students use this telescope and the 12-inch Buller Telescope on campus for introductory Astronomy classes and labs. The Reginald F. Buller Award for Service is competitive in nature and primarily based upon service.

If you do not meet all of these requirements in a given term, you may lose your scholarship eligibility and your scholarship may be canceled.

Requirements:

• Recipients must have a minimum overall cumulative GPA of 3.00 out of 4.00, or the arithmetic equivalent.
• Recipients must be graduate students pursuing a program of study in Astronomy.
• Recipients must have participated in community service or volunteer activities.