Mr. KU Finalist: Colin Murphy

1. Name: Colin Murphy

 

2. Major: Aerospace engineering

 

3. Year: Senior, but graduating 2017

 

4. Hometown: Topeka, Kansas

 

5. What are three things you want to do before you graduate? Secure a full time job in the Space Industry, participate in research that gets published, and eat at every restaurant on Mass St.   

 

6. If you could be anyone in the world, who would it be and why? It’s probably because of the fact that I just saw him speak, but I’d have to say Gene Kranz. He served as flight director through the Apollo program, including Apollo 13, and you’d be hard pressed to find another person with so much drive, integrity and competence. I strive to have those traits, and with all he’s contributed to the US space program, I admire his life.

 

7. If you won the lottery, what would you do first? First thing? Honestly, I’d take my girlfriend out for a really, really nice dinner and pay for both of us to go to graduate school. 

 

8. What is your favorite memory at KU so far? My first KU basketball game! I was not a sports fan before coming to KU, and I can’t exactly say that I care about anything related to throwing a ball around outside of March, but the energy surrounding basketball here is infectious, and being inside of Allen Fieldhouse is really indescribable.

 

9. Where do you see yourself five years from now? Working in mission control with either SpaceX or NASA, hopefully with a graduate degree completed or in the works.

 

10. Why do you think you deserve the title of Mr. KU? I feel like I represent the transformation that KU hopes to give their students. I came here a timid, lonely freshman with about five friends that I kept to exclusively, but KU has given me so many opportunities to grow. Between serving as a Resident Assistant, leading clubs for engineering students and becoming a Self Engineering Leadership Fellow, KU has made me a better person and given me every chance to help improve this community that’s invested so much in me.