Her experience at NASA led Madelyn Hoying to develop a passion for aeronautics.
BY MATT McCLELLAND
Four years ago, Madelyn Hoying was on top of the world. Valedictorian of the Grosse Ile High School Class of 2016, with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, she was an academic star. In the swimming pool, she set school records in the 100 yard breaststroke, 200 yard individual medley, and the 200 freestyle relay.
She earned All State status a combined seven times, with at least one top eight finish all four years. She led GI to its first-ever News-Herald Championship in the 34-year history of the event. She also was a member of the varsity crew team.
If you think that is impressive, get a load of what she has been doing since leaving Michigan for Pittsburgh, Pa. A four-year member of the Duquesne University swim team, she was a part of two Atlantic 10 League championship teams for the Dukes. While a Division 1 athlete, she tended to her studies, earning bachelor’s degrees in both physics and biomedical engineering. She did take a semester off from her regular studies, although not to travel abroad and spend time as a tourist as many college students choose.
Hoying spent a full semester as an intern at the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia “helping develop a new solid state laser system looking at different materials that would be within the infrared wavelength range.” While she was at NASA, she often spent her lunch breaks in the research hangar with the aerospace engineers, thus developing her passion for astronautics.
She earned the matching set of four year degrees in three and a half years of schooling and garnered multiple prestigious awards. She has decided to continue studying the effects of space travel on the human body and has been accepted into two of the finest academic institutions in the world. This isn’t hyperbole, as she will be dual enrolled at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
When I spoke with Hoying, she was preparing for final exams including Electrodynamics and Gravitational Astrophysics. She has since graduated with Magna Cum Laude distinction. At commencements, she was awarded the Duquesne Outstanding Student trophy from the Department of Engineering. This is given to the top student from the Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Departments. She also was bestowed with the Dean’s Award for Excellence, given to a single student in the Rangos Health Sciences Department. Hoying was the first Biomedical Engineering recipient of this distinguished honor.
This fall, she will be in the Medical Engineering Medical Physics (MEMP) program, where her studies will focus on Bioastronautics, “the study of how to get people to survive in space.” Hoying wants to further the understanding of the effects of space radiation on the human body. She will take medical courses at Harvard Medical School while attending MIT for engineering courses. There are only a handful of locations that offer bioastronautics, and the program shared between Harvard and MIT is “far and away the best in the world.” There are 20 students accepted into the MEMP program, and only two within that group are selected for bioastronautics.
Hoying is certainly a high achiever and isn’t waiting until the fall to get a jump start. She has already met some of her colleagues and is excited to launch the next chapter of her life.
“My research interest is radiation and the goal of doing the dual program is so that I can take what I advance the field in and apply that new knowledge to oncology and cancer treatments and radiation therapy.”
Life at Duquesne wasn’t all classes and tests. Duquesne swimming is a close-knit team that immediately welcomed her to the family. Part of why Hoying selected Duquesne is because the school is known to allow its students to focus on both academics and athletics. When asked what it was like to be on a D1 swim team, Hoying said, “It was a great experience in developing people skills and time management skills.”
Hoying cited winning the A10 Conference Championship as a highlight of her time there, complete with a championship ring ceremony. The ring ceremony “was a really great experience” that she got to enjoy twice. The event is held at a fancy apartment in Pittsburgh and was a unique opportunity for Hoying and her teammates.
Her advice for anyone considering college athletics was, “Do it, but don’t sacrifice academics…find a team where you can do what you want academically and athletically because they are out there.”
Duquesne encouraged her to pursue engineering and swimming and it was immediately apparent that they valued both elements of the collegiate experience.
“I am OK with it being over,” Hoying, now at the end of her swimming career, said. “It was definitely worth it and I feel like I’ve done what I’m capable of doing in the water.”
Out of the water, Hoying isn’t just focused on her studies. Somehow during these last four years, she found the time to start a non-profit organization called FosterRec.
“The idea is to provide access to athletic opportunities to kids in foster care for children from toddler age to 18.”
Looking ahead, Hoying has some out-of-this-world aspirations, literally. Her long-term goal is to be an astronaut. “I would hope to be able to be accepted into the program somewhere in my 30s.”
Hoying dreams of a trip to Mars, and given what she has accomplished thus far, that trip may be written in the stars. Four years ago, she was on top of the world. Now her trajectory is taking her much higher.