Space shuttle astronaut Joe Allen will share his experiences from taking part in two space shuttle missions and serving on the backup crew for Apollo 15 Tuesday in Hall Auditorium.

Allen will also present Miami University senior Prashant Rajan with the $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Foundation. Rajan is a biochemistry and zoology double major and molecular biology and neuroscience double minor from Mentor.

Allen, originally from Crawfordsville, Ind., earned a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree and doctorate from Yale University. He was a nuclear physics research associate at the University of Washington when NASA selected him as one of 11 scientist-astronauts in 1967.

He flew on two Space Shuttle missions, both milestone flights: STS-5, the first operational mission on Columbia in 1982, and STS-51A, the first satellite salvage mission on Discovery in 1982.

Allen left NASA in 1985. He served as chief executive officer of Space Industries International and later was chairman of Veridian Corp. until he retired in 2004. Allen is an active member of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF).

Rajan, recipient of the 2012-2013 Astronaut Scholarship, “embodies the top characteristics of an Astronaut Scholar: intelligent, perseverant and driven to lead the path toward the advancement of scientific knowledge and technology,” Allen said. “I’m proud to have the opportunity to present this award to such a worthy recipient at Miami University.”

Allen’s talk at 7 p.m. is free to the public and sponsored by Miami’s honors program.