Nominations for the Grand Island Senior High School Hall of Honor are accepted throughout each year. The Hall of Honor Committee will review all submitted nominations and honor inductees every other year. We are excited to announce the Hall of Honor Banquet & Celebration will be held again on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
The Hall of Honor, inaugurated in 1983, recognizes Grand Island Senior High School alumni who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the betterment of society. Nominees must have graduated more than 20 years ago from the high school.
Dr. Melissa (Lisa) McGrath
Class of 1973
Hall of Honor 1995
Dr. Melissa A. McGrath is a 1973 graduate of Grand Island Senior High School. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Mt. Holyoke College with a BA in Physics and Astronomy. Dr. McGrath also holds a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Virginia.
As of the date of her induction into this hall of fame in 1995, Dr. McGrath was the Acting Chief and Assistant Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Adjunct Faculty member of Physics and Astronomy at John Hopkins University.
Over the course of her professional career, Dr. McGrath has distinguished herself as a noted author and lecturer in the field of astronomy. She has written numerous articles and referred publications in a variety of scientific magazines and journals. Dr. McGrath has lectured extensively to scientific audiences in the United States and Europe, and has been an active participant with NASA in a variety of public outreach activities.
Dr. McGrath is a member of the American Astronomical Society, Division of Planetary Sciences, AAS, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Physical Society. She was recognized as a Mt. Holyoke College Sarah Williston Scholar in 1975 and was awarded the Mt. Holyoke College Bennett Prize in Physics in 1976. She has been featured in Parade Magazine and received the 1994 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Group Award.
