Swift as a rocket on the field, University of Miami football player Nathan Gholston is aiming for the stars in more ways than one. The senior undergraduate is also studying aerospace engineering, and dreams of one day designing spacecrafts for NASA and starting his own consulting firm, reports The Miami Herald.

Playing football wasn’t always in Gholston’s plans. After transferring to Miami in 2008, however, a friend and fellow track-and-field teammate convinced him to try out, and his impressive sprinting landed him a spot as a walk-on. Now Gholston plays on the special teams, where his speed is utilized for kickoff plays and punt returns.

Between returning kicks and snatching errant fumbles, Gholston has found time to participate in an international flight design competition, and to pursue his love of literature (he recently finished reading The Art of War, a 700-page tome written in China around 500 B.C.).

Gholston’s mother, one of only a few female electricians at a Ford Motor Company plant, has provided him with unfailing support over the years. She has yet to miss any of her son’s football games. But, Gholston says in an interview with his hometown sports news site Plymouth Canton Sports, “My mom is more proud of me for going after a degree in aerospace engineering than she is for anything I’ve done on the football field.”

Watch Gholston in action here, starting at 3:50:

Imagine if someone gave you up to $41,000 in cash to realize your dreams. That – plus full tuition and other education-related benefits – is what the SMART scholarship offers students majoring in science, engineering and mathematics. SMART scholars also get paid summer internships and a job placement after graduation.

ASEE invited eight current SMART scholars to spend a day in Washington, D.C., and talk about what got them into engineering:

Brian Wybrecht
Civil Engineering

Carlos Manuel Torres, Jr.
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Ebone Pierce
Mechanical Engineering

Isabel Anderson
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

Jaclyn Mathis
Materials Engineering

Lonnie T. Parker
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Nicholas Silva
Electrical Engineering

Tamara Cottam
Aerospace Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Electrical & Computer Engineering

“After an introductory summer engineering program at Georgia Tech my junior year of high school, I knew engineering would be my major. My academic path has been very diverse…It was not until I considered graduate school and my current work designing intelligent robotic surveyor systems for unexplored terrain that a special, lasting interest was formed.”

Dillard University, New Orleans, La.

Mechanical Engineering & Physics

“I really chose to become a mechanical engineer because I love to build and create things that will benefit others. I love to help people, and to see a smile on their faces is when I feel most accomplished.”

Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa.

Electrical Engineering

“After my father taught me the mechanical ins and outs of my first car, I took it upon myself to study the electrical system. I developed an interest in car stereos, and before I knew it, I was designing speaker boxes and upgrading my vehicle’s electrical backbone. The fact that I could use my car’s engine to spin a pulley on an alternator and generate current really pushed me towards the study of electrical power.”

Parkland College-University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Materials Science & Engineering

“Even at a young age, I was interested in mathematics and science. Math and science have revolutionized the world we live in today and always will with the new technology that is constantly being invented. I want to be a part of it because it is fascinating to build something from nothing, especially when the end result can benefit other people.”

University of California, Los Angeles

Electrical Engineering

“I grew up playing video-games and watching science-fiction movies. I would remember all the cool, futuristic technology I would use in these games, and I realized that I wanted to study how to someday make something that ‘fake’ into reality.”

University of Alabama, Huntsville

Aerospace Engineering

“I started to grow an interest in space when my mom would take me outside and teach me about the night sky. I became greatly interested in the technologies man designed to utilize and study space. This led me to the easy decision to major in aerospace engineering.”

Michigan State University, East Lansing

Civil Engineering

“As a young kid, I would spend hours playing with Legos. I loved having thousands of them at my disposal to design whatever I could dream up. In fifth grade, I was assigned a project to write about where I saw myself in 20 years. I explained to my teacher that I enjoyed playing with Legos, and she said that I should consider engineering.”

Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J.

Naval Engineering & Maritime Systems

“I grew up learning how to sail with Sea Scouts, and from those experiences, fell in love with boats. Since I decided I wanted to learn how to design and build boats, the study of naval engineering was the perfect path for me, and I hope to be around water for the rest of my life.”