The SWE Hampton Roads Section was founded in 1985. This section supports members located in
Hampton Roads, the metropolitan region located in southeastern VA and northeastern NC near where the Chesapeake Bay flows in to the Atlantic Ocean. SWE Hampton Roads has one endowed scholarship named the Dr. Celeste Belcastro Memorial Scholarship, which was endowed in 2013. This scholarship is available to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing engineering related degrees at colleges in Virginia.
Dr. Celeste Belcastro Memorial Scholarship
Dr. Celeste Belcastro received the Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering in May 1980, and the Master of Engineering Degree in May 1986, both from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. She received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering in December 1994 from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.
Career
Dr. Belcastro was a Senior Research Engineer at NASA Langley Research Center for 28 years, with
numerous technical accomplishments and publications as well as technical leadership contributions. Dr. Belcastro was responsible for Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) technical leadership and management at NASA Langley, and had led associated research activities related to IVHM and Flight Critical System Design (FCSD) for NASA Aviation Safety and Security programs for approximately 10 years. During her career at NASA, she received numerous awards for technical accomplishments and superior performance, including the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for “sustained outstanding achievement in Digital Upset Research which contributed significantly to advancements in aviation safety”. Her research interests included malfunction effects in complex integrated systems due to electromagnetic disturbances and ionizing radiation, state estimation and distributed fault detection with data fusion, real-time performance monitoring and assessment, failure accommodation techniques for highly reliable flight systems, and validation of complex integrated adaptive embedded systems for flight critical aerospace applications.
Other Affiliations
She was dedicated throughout her career to engineering and aerospace educational outreach for school children to promote engineering and aerospace careers to future generations. She regularly visited middle school classrooms to provide hands-on aerospace lessons, participated in engineering education to girl scouts (which contributed to their earning of an engineering patch), and volunteered her services in the judging of school science fairs.
She was an accomplished musician and specialized in playing the bass guitar. She was a valued member of the Gospel Choir at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Newport News. Celeste had also recently established digital recording capability in association with a newly formed easy-listening band, in which she was the bass guitarist and a back-up vocalist. She was an avid golfer, was interested in digital photography, loved to travel, loved dogs (especially Pugs), and was a gourmet cook. In addition to her technical accomplishments and numerous interests, she was unfailingly thoughtful, kind, and generous to everyone that she knew.
Reference – https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailypress/obituary.aspx?n=celeste-m-
belcastro&pid=116357090&fhid=4202
Number Available: 1
State: School in Virginia
Class: Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Graduate
Major: All
Amount: $1500
US citizenship required. Must attend school in Virginia.
