Jeffrey Scott Vitter Jr. wants to be an astronaut.
Ole Miss Chancellor Jeff Vitter’s 28-year-old son is in his third year of a doctoral program in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas. When NASA opened up public applications for its astronaut program in December 2015, the former U.S. Army man said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity, but NASA hasn’t gotten back to him yet.
In the meantime, Scott is studying water and energy relations in urban settings.
“Right now, I work with smart electricity and smart water meter projects,” he said. “Trying to come up with different recommendations for city planners to plan those systems in a better way.”
Scott graduated from Notre Dame in 2010, just like his dad did 40 years earlier. The father and son even lived in the same dorm.
“My dad brainwashed me as a Notre Dame fan since a very young age,” he said.
The chancellor’s son said his time deployedThis is the university’s chosen method of addressing the divisive symbols on campus. But not everyone agrees, and those symbols do not leave the university without a fight partly inspired him to follow an engineering path. Scott was on active duty as an engineer officer from 2010 to 2014, primarily stationed at Ft. Brag and Fayetteville. He spent all of 2013 in Afghanistan, where he said his patrol cleared improvised explosive devices along Army routes. Scott said he was fascinated by the country’s energy situation and lack of water infrastructure.
“The Army was awesome. It took me right out of high school and helped me grow up pretty quick and helped make me a better person,” he said.
Scott was 17 when he decided to join the Army. He said the decision caught his parents by surprise, but they were behind him.
“They’re always challenging me to make sure that what I’m doing is what I actually want to do and supporting me,” he said.
Scott said his parents have done a nice job offering him advice without trying to steer him one direction. He said even though his dad is passionate about education, he never pushed him to work in academia. Chancellor Vitter has worked in educational administration for decades, but his son said Ole Miss’ job offer spurred him.
“He saw that as an exciting opportunity to come to a great place and to build something out in a big way,” Scott said.
He said his parents and two sisters spent a game day in the Grove last year and have been hooked on Ole Miss ever since. Scott has visited Oxford four times already, including a weekend last spring where he got to watch Ole Miss baseball sweep Arkansas.
“And we went to the Ole Miss Alabama game this year,” he said. “Great first half.”
Scott understands the pain of being a second-half Rebels fan. He said his dad is looking forward to a big basketball season, and even has a few smooth moves of his own.
“If you ever get a chance to play one-on-one pick up hoops, he’s got a pretty nice running hook shot down the lane. I don’t know if he’s as physical as he used to be, but he could ball.”
