TEMPE, A.Z. (P.E.O.) – Haylee Archer, a Ph.D. student in astrophysics at Arizona State University, is one of 100 doctoral students within the U.S. and Canada selected to receive a prestigious $25,000 P.E.O. Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She was nominated by P.E.O. Chapter A of Valley City, North Dakota.

The P.E.O. Scholar Awards program, established in 1991, provides substantial merit-based awards for women of the U.S. and Canada who are pursuing a doctoral-level degree at an accredited college or university.

Archer is from Finley, ND and is a 2017 magna cum laude graduate of the University of North Dakota, where she was the recipient of the North Dakota EPSCoR Advanced Undergraduate Research Award and multiple scholarships, among many other honors. In 2023, Archer earned the Arizona State University College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Excellence Award.

Archer has authored multiple articles and presentations in prestigious scientific journals and conferences. Her Ph.D. dissertation is on “Star Formation in Low Metallicity Environments”. She currently is conducting her research at the Lowell Observatory and was recently the principle investigator of a successful project for observing time on the Hubble Space Telescope. Archer also develops and validates curricular materials for classrooms, and created an online lesson that has been adopted by NASA’s Infiniscope, which provides digital learning experiences and educator resources for K-12 and post secondary classes.

Chapter A has been a part of the Valley City community since it was organized in 1906 as the first P.E.O. chapter in North Dakota. Chapter A is also designated as a P.E.O. Scholar Awards Laureate Chapter.