goldwater scholarship research essay

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Goldwater Essay Tips

As each element of the application is being developed, keep in mind that the Foundation’s reviewers will be evaluating the likelihood that a student will pursue a career and become a research leader in one of the supported fields. The Research Essay provides the reviewers with particularly important insights into an applicant’s background, experience, skills, temperament, and interest in pursuing a research career.

The strongest Research Essays students submit are based on a prior or current research experience. A Research Essay should include a description of the issue or problem, a discussion of the research methodology, and a discussion of the student’s findings. It is very important that the essay detail a student’s specific contributions to the project and indicate the specific skills/expertise the student developed as a result of participation in the project. To demonstrate that a student “thinks like a scientist,” the essay might, as an example, describe future work the experimental data suggests or describe an entirely new work that is based on the skills and insights the student learned from the experience.

The Research Essay should not simply be a “slightly expanded” abstract that was used for another purpose. While the Research Essay might start out as an abstract, it needs to be much more. In addition to describing the research question, methodology, analysis and results, the Essay should clearly describe how the student was involved in the work and what specific contributions he/she made to the work. Future directions for the work or a new research initiative built on skills learned should be included.

Research Essays should be written with the understanding that Goldwater reviewers are experienced science reviewers, but may not necessarily be an expert in a specific research area.

Students should work with their faculty mentor(s) to ensure the Research Essays are scientifically accurate, use appropriate scientific format, and provide an appropriate balance among the various elements that make up the Research Essay.

If a student has not been involved in a research project, the student can develop a Research Essay on a “proposed” research project that might, for example, be based on an independent investigation of theory or on a topic of interest in the student’s field. A research problem should be put forward, an idea for a research protocol that would address the problem should be presented, methodology should be discussed, and anticipated results described. Linking the project to the skills the student has acquired through coursework or other work would be helpful to the reviewers.

The Research Essay should include appropriate bibliographic information and references.

Research Essay Formatting Guidelines:

Research Essays should be single spaced and use 12 point or larger Arial font. Margins should be 1 inch on all sides. Page length, including bibliographic information and references, must not exceed 3 pages. The Research Essay must include the applicant’s name and the name of the nominating institution in the header at the top of each page. Single or double column format may be used. As appropriate, utilize graphs, tables, and figures in the essay to explain results or to provide interpretation that lead to next steps.

Research Essays should be saved as PDF files. Although the upload site accepts JPG and PNG file formats, PDF files are preferred. Instructions for uploading the Research Essay to the Goldwater site are provided in the online application. Students are responsible for uploading the Research Essay.

Writing your research proposal for Goldwater Scholarship (by Rochester Institute of Technology)

Keep the following suggestions in mind when writing your essay:.

• Most winning Proposals for the Goldwater have essays that centered around the applicant’s current research. You may want to consider starting by discussing your current research.
• Demonstrate your interest in the project by making the case for its importance, its potential applications, and future breakthroughs. Go from there to develop a research proposal of future work.
• The challenge facing all writers is to get the good ideas out of their heads and into the heads of their readers. To achieve this, effective writers must: Be clear. Be concrete. Be concise.
• Think of your application essay as a part of a larger whole (including the letters of reference and the application form).
• No essay can be successful without a clear focus. An effective thesis sentence announces clearly the central idea to be developed in the rest of the essay.
• You must have a passionate interest in what you propose to do. The best essays are written about something the author truly cares about.
• Your essay must go through many drafts, so start early! Show your work to a number of readers whose comments you respect. Consult especially your research advisor and ask your readers to
• tell you what questions your essays raise that you might not have considered.
• Revise until you feel that you have made your application into effective reflections of who you are and what you want to do.
• Keep to word limits and all other guidelines and remember to proofread the entire application.

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The Goldwater Scholarship

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For outstanding juniors and sophomores who intend to pursue basic research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.

• Goldwater Pre-Application Deadline : Wednesday, 25 October, 2023, 5PM PST
• Campus Final Application Deadline:  Monday, 27 November 2023, 5PM PST **SUBMIT EARLY: This deadline is strict**
• Application Workshop: Wednesday, 18 October 2023, 2:30 pm by zoom. Register here .
• Eligible expenses for tuition, fees, books, and room + board, up to a maximum of $7,500 annually
• Sophomore scholarship recipients are eligible for a maximum of two years of scholarship support; Junior scholarship recipients are eligible for one year of scholarship support
• Campus contact: [email protected]
• More information at: The Barry Goldwater Scholarship Program national website

Eligibility

• Nomination by Stanford through Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE)
• Open to full-time registered sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue basic research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. Students considering an MD or MD/PhD will be asked to clearly demonstrate how this degree serves a basic research agenda.
• The selection process is highly competitive and experience indicates that only students with a GPA of 3.6 and above can expect to be successful in the competition (although the Goldwater Foundation website states that a GPA of at least a "B" or the equivalent is required, we have found it to be higher than this)
• Applicants must be a US citizen, US national from Guam, United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, or any other territory or possession of the United States, or a permanent resident (permanent residents will be asked to submit a copy of their permanent resident card)

How to Apply

The following steps must be completed for an application to be considered for campus nomination:

• Thoroughly read all materials found at the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Website . In addition, take note of the campus application process described below.
• Complete the Goldwater Pre-Application by the pre-application deadline to receive access to the full application and be matched with a Goldwater advisor.
• Meet with your assigned Goldwater advisor to review your intended letter writers and discuss your application.
• The Goldwater foundation requires letters to be formatted in a very specific way. Please provide the following Letter Writing Guidance to your recommenders when you make your request.
• Ask your mentors to save the signed letter as a PDF and send the completed letter directly to [email protected] .
• Begin this process early to give your mentors enough time to meet the campus deadline. We suggest you ask them at least a month before the application is due (the earlier is better) Tips for Soliciting Letters of Recommendation .
• ​​ Submit a complete application online via the online Goldwater application portal (this full application includes your Student Profile and a 3-page Research Essay which should follow Goldwater's formatting guidelines). 
• Download the "Fellowship Nomination Permission Form and Waiver." Sign, scan, and return an electronic copy to [email protected] . 
• Request an electronic version of all official undergraduate transcripts to be sent to [email protected] . (Get information on how to request your electronic transcript from Stanford )
• Submit one copy of your Resident Card, if applicable, to [email protected] .

If you are selected as a Stanford nominee , you will work with the campus liaison and Goldwater advisors to refine your online application in early Winter Quarter.

Late applications will NOT be accepted.

Selection process

A committee of VPUE staff and faculty will review applications and select a maximum of four campus nominees. Goldwater permits a fifth nomination for a transfer student.

Additional Resources

• You are strongly encouraged to consult with your faculty mentors and your assigned Goldwater advisor about the application.
• Read sample application essays available at any of the following Academic Advising offices: Sweet Hall first floor; the AARC; the office of the Undergraduate Advising Director of your residence. If you will be away from campus while preparing your application, reach out to [email protected] early to arrange an alternative way to view sample materials.
• Get feedback from consultants at the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking or the School of Engineering’s Technical Communication Program on your essays

Contact [email protected]

My Goldwater Application Sample

6 minute read

Earlier this year, I had the incredible privilege of being named a Goldwater Scholar. While winning the scholarship was rather validating and motivating, I thought the application process worthwhile in of itself because it forced me to think hard about my research direction and career goals for the future. During the application process, I found it incredibly helpful to read past sample applications. However, such samples are pretty few and far between, especially within the Computer Science or Mathematics categories.

Given this, I thought I’d put my own application online in the hopes that future Goldwater applicants find it helpful. Below, you’ll find my responses to all the short essay questions + my research essay; which represent the bulk of the Goldwater application. If you’re reading this and considering applying to the Goldwater but currently on the fence, I’d highly recommend you try it (especially if you’re a sophomore because you can apply again next year!). If you’re in no way planning to apply for the scholarship but just reading this anyways, I hope it’s at least mildly interesting / entertaining…

In one or two sentences, describe your career goals and professional aspirations (see example below). This statement will be used in publications if you are selected as a scholar or honorable mention.

Obtain a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. Conduct research aiming to develop intelligence algorithms to enable practical and collaborative robots.

What are your career goals and professional aspirations? Indicate which area(s) of mathematics, science or engineering you are considering pursuing in your research career and specify how your current academic program and your overall educational plans will assist you in achieving your career goals and professional aspirations.

Humans have been dreaming of creating intelligent robots for many centuries now. Intelligent and collaborative robots could enable everything from creating an extraterrestrial habitat on Mars to making nuclear fusion reactors a viable source of clean and safe energy. The potential applications of these robots are so vast that it seems like their development could fundamentally change the world for the better, similar to how computers have changed our world by an unprecedented factor in only the last 50 years. The prospect of having widespread intelligent and collaborative machines at our disposal is thus exciting indeed.

Given this, my primary career goal is to accelerate the development of such intelligent and collaborative robots.

I recognize that creating such robots is not a simple task in the slightest. Such intelligent and collaborative robots have not even been created in a laboratory setting yet. Hence, it is clear to me that I need to spend time learning as much as I can about these fields and attempt to advance the state-of-the-art in research as much as I can.

To this end, I am pursuing an undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering. I believe that to create truly useful robots, we must make progress in creating increasingly intelligent algorithms in addition to cheaper, more accurate sensors and actuators. Thus, I see the challenges of robotics as fundamentally being challenges of computer science and engineering.

I chose to study computer engineering because it enables me to gain foundational knowledge in both fields.

Outside of my curriculum, I am a member of a Robotics and Artificial Intelligence lab on campus. As a lab member, I am able to learn and work on independent research projects to advance the current state-of-the-art in various sub-fields like Planning, Reinforcement Learning, Imitation Learning and Human-Robot Interaction. I am also able to constantly learn about the field from my fellow researchers within the lab and around the world.

After graduation, I intend to pursue a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a focus on artificial intelligence for robots. I want to build upon the foundation I will have laid to focus both on developing intelligence algorithms for robots and on creating interfaces to facilitate better human-robot collaboration. At the completion of my Ph.D., I hope to have made significant contributions to the state-of-the-art for robot learning and be well-equipped to help build the robots of our dreams.

Describe an activity or experience that has been important in helping shape or reinforce your desire to pursue a research career in science, mathematics or engineering

My first research internship involved helping a colleague with his project: using data from expert demonstrations to teach a robot how to press buttons. My colleague already had an algorithm; all that was left was to implement it on our lab’s mobile robot. We didn’t think this would take more than two months.

As it turned out, we were very wrong. Our initial attempts resulted in our robot’s arm frequently hitting obstacles. Some weeks of debugging yielded a flaw in our algorithm. Some more weeks and extensive tests revealed our data-collection programs weren’t actually collecting data. Weeks continued to pass until my colleague graduated and we lost hope that the idea would work.

However, on the urging of an advisor, another colleague and I began re-examining the project. We ran meticulous experiments until we finally discovered a small error with our data collection. Days later, approximately one year after having gotten involved in the project, I held my breath and watched the robot press a button.

While button-pressing may seem a trivial task, that moment was one of the most profound experiences of my life. Despite the many setbacks and frustrations, I continue with research to this day because such moments of discovery, of knowing that I have created something significant, novel and potentially impactful, have made everything else well worth it. Research is the most exciting and fulfilling pursuit I have ever known and I’m excited to spend the rest of my life doing it.

Goldwater Scholars will be representative of the diverse economic, ethnic and occupational backgrounds of families in the United States. Describe any social and/or economic impacts you have encountered that influenced your education - either positively or negatively - and how you have dealt with them.

I grew up in my father’s relatively small hometown in South India where opportunities were scarce. My high school had no guidance counselor and the nearest SAT Testing Center was a three-hour drive. However, my parents are both hard-working immigrants to the US who taught me to dream big and then persevere relentlessly for those dreams. So, I did.

I taught myself electronics and computer programming and began competing in national - and eventually international - robotics competitions and science fairs. I took a ninety-minute bus ride every day for six years to attend my city’s only international school. Eventually, I was able to achieve my dream of being accepted to study engineering at a research-driven college in the U.S.

I should emphasize that I’ve had the good fortune of being supported by great people throughout my journey thus far. My parents have never spared expenses on my education or pursuit of opportunity. My high school teachers nominated me for every relevant extracurricular opportunity they could and stayed after school hours to mentor me. My school’s chairman even fully-sponsored our Robotics team when costs became prohibitive.

My experiences have taught me that it’s important to encourage and support students everywhere to pursue opportunity, no matter how scarce it may be. Sometimes, this support can change a life, as it did mine. In this spirit, I hope that my career and life can contribute to making the world have more opportunity for everyone, everywhere.

My Research Essay

(PS: If you’re looking to write your Research Essay in LaTex, I’d highly recommend this free, open-source template by 2019 Goldwater Scholar Hannah Richards).

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• FRONT MATTER
• TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Goldwater Scholarship

The Goldwater Scholarship (honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater) awards sophomore and junior students up to a maximum of $7500 annually for tuition, books, fees, and room and board. Its aim is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scholars to work as scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. Students are chosen based on their commitment and potential to make significant future contributions in their fields, and it is expected that Goldwater Scholars will pursue graduate degrees.

The Goldwater Scholarship Selection Criteria

Goldwater applications are reviewed by an independent committee appointed by the Goldwater Foundation, and the committee’s selection criteria include:

• potential for a commitment to a career in the sciences, engineering, or mathematics, as demonstrated by the student’s overall application;
• excellence in academic performance.

As with many other national scholarships, candidates for the Goldwater are nominated by their institutions, and final selection of Goldwater Scholars is made by the Goldwater Board of Trustees, which reviews the assessment made by both the nominating institution and the independent selection committee.

Answering the Goldwater Essay Questions and Writing the Nominee’s Essay

The last few questions of the Goldwater application invite narrative responses, with approximate length dictated by the size of the space available to answer the questions. These three questions involve the applicant’s professional aspirations, personal motivations, and diversity (broadly defined). Clearly, a lot of flexibility is built into answering such questions, and students tend to approach these questions accordingly, narrating personal anecdotes and information about their families to let the selectors know what kind of people they are. While still emphasizing science and research, past applicants have shared information about a childhood or other formative experience, the desire to become a professor or write a textbook, their ethnic background, and even information about hardships of their parents. In answering these questions—especially the question inviting comments on diversity—it is important to be genuine and sound natural in your examples. Readers tend to sniff out and suspect aspirations that reach too high, or motivations that are insincere, or diversity that is forced.

For the nominee’s essay (limited to two pages), you must describe an issue or problem associated with your field and describe any related ongoing or intended research. Most writers document any sources cited in APA Style ( click here to visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison pages on APA Style ), and they are especially careful to credit sources of information and graphics as well as clarify their exact role in the research project. Your aim is to show how you can excel in a research environment, or work as part of a design team, or contribute to the understanding of a technical problem. Remember, too, that members of the selection panel will have the expertise to understand a complex problem in your field, and be certain to present detail accordingly.

Evaluation of Two Sample Sets of Goldwater Application Essays

In the pdf link below, two sample Goldwater essay sets are provided. Note how both writers show a facility with presenting themselves as budding scientists.

In answering the narrative questions, the first writer stresses his aspiration to lead a team of researchers studying pollution control in industrial chemical processes, and cites specific problems he has encountered in his current research on bacteria growth. His tone is almost philosophical at times, discussing the rewards of both achievement and failure in the sciences, and he notes that he is the first in his family to pursue a technical degree. His nominee’s essay stresses the long-term goal of his research in bacterial adhesion, and he carefully describes his team’s use of video microscopy to record particles as they adhere to bacteria.

The second writer addresses the narrative questions by outlining her participation in programs related to women in science and her personal aspirations, ranging from serving as part of a NASA research team to working as a glass blower at a Renaissance Faire. Her diversity background is grounded in her hailing from a highly rural area (even her influential father is a “senior bank auditor but country man at heart”). Finally, her nominee’s essay, addressing the goal to improve the durability of window glass, offers precisely detailed information even to the extent of giving exact nanometer depths that yielded different data points. Such an approach closely resembles a technical abstract that would appear in a journal. Significantly, this student did receive a Goldwater Scholarship.

When you apply for the Goldwater Scholarship program, the process begins at the Goldwater website, which includes a transcript request form for your secondary school, a supporting documents checklist, and candidacy information and instructions.

Visit the Goldwater Scholarship website.

Brandon L. Barker

Goldwater advice.

Maybe put a fun quote here!

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship is one of the most prestigious awards in STEM at the undergraduate level. You may apply in your sophomore or junior year (or even fourth year, if you will take 5+ years to graduate), and the award gives up to $7,500 for each of your remaining years. The application process is likely longer than other applications you may have done in the past, but is a very beneficial process. The first step is to contact your campus representative . This is who you will submit your application to and they will select some of the applicants from your school to nominate as finalists for the award. The application itself consists of three components: a research essay, short answer questions, and background information including short research statements. Below you can find my advice on each piece of the application process, as well as why it’s worthwhile to apply, and here you can find application tips on the Goldwater website. At the bottom you may find my application materials.

Research Essay

• Roughly 1/2 page for introduction. This is the big picture stuff. What are you interested in and why is it important? How does this work relate to the field as a whole?
• 1.5 pages to talk about what you did in your project. Did you do field work? Run experiments? Develop code? You need to focus very heavily on your contributions to the project. If you have an easily digestible graph or illustration that shows your results, that would be good to include.
• About 1/2 page for results and conclusions. Be brief. What did you find? Why are these results important? Tie them to a bigger picture. If you’re going to continue the work, explain what you’re going to do and why. Showing that you understand the importance and limitations of your work and results is important.
• About 1/2 page (or less) for references. This isn’t so important, but you should have a couple of references to key papers.

When writing this, keep in mind that the people reviewing your application will be scientists, but they will probably not be experts in your field. Keep jargon to a minimum and try to make it as accessible as possible. For this, I suggest having as many people proofread it as possible, preferably people with a different background than you. Friends from different majors are a great resource!

Also check out the official FAQs .

Short Answer Questions

• “In one or two sentences, describe your career goals and professional aspirations. (200 characters)”
• “Expand on the above brief statement to more fully describe your career goals and professional aspirations. Indicate which area(s) of mathematics, science or engineering you are considering pursuing in your research career and specify how your current academic program and your overall educational plans will assist you in achieving your career goals and professional aspirations. (3000 characters)”
• Describe an activity or experience that has been important in helping shape or reinforce your desire to pursue a research career in science, mathematics or engineering. (1500 Characters)
• “(Optional. Answering this question will depend on your personal experience.) Goldwater Scholars will be representative of the diverse economic, ethnic, racial and occupational backgrounds of families in the U.S. Describe any social and/or economic impacts you have personally experienced that have influenced your education – either positively or negatively – and describe how you dealt with them. (1500 Characters)”

The first question sets up for the following questions and how your answers are driving you to that career. You should avoid language such as "I want to go to graduate school." Instead, something stronger like "Following graduation, I will pursue a Fulbright followed by a PhD in nuclear engineering, and then a staff scientist position at a national lab." It should be short, specific, and strong.

The key in this section is to try to set yourself apart. For the second question: how is your academic program preparing you for your goals? Are you supplementing your coursework with another major to better prepare yourself for your field? Anyone can say “My coursework in x major is preparing me for graduate school in x field.” How is it doing that? And how are you making it uniquely yours? How have your research experiences prepared you for this career path?

For the third question you get the chance to show your passion. Maybe it was your first time in the lab, your first time visualizing your data, you first time seeing your work applied, or even your first failure. You’re trying to show the reviewers why you love science. Again, you want to be unique. The reviewers have to read a lot of applications, so make them want to keep reading yours. And avoid clichés . I can’t stress that enough – they only hurt your writing.

The final question is tricky and can be, in my opinion, a make-or-break question. You want to explain why any parts of your application may be lacking, such as your GPA. If you are facing or have faced hardships such as being a first-generation college student, a member of an underrepresented minority, or coming form a low-income family, this is the place to talk about it. Demonstrate how these things have affected you and how you have overcame them. Although the question is technically optional, I would advice against skipping it.

Although these are all different questions, you should try to create an overarching narrative throughout, so that when read together, they give a clear picture of who you are and how qualified you are .

Individual Research Statements

These are short abstract length summaries of your research projects. Like with the research essay, focus in on what you contributed to the project, and avoid overusing technical jargon. You should try to explain, in roughly one paragraph, what you did and how it fits into the field as a whole.

Other Application Materials

In the application itself, you will be asked to list if and where you've presented your research, any extracurricular clubs/organizations that you're involved in, and any awards you've received.

What if I Don’t Have Research Experience?

If you don’t yet have research experience, you can still apply! The primary difference is that your research essay must now become a research proposal where you will write about research that you are going to do or want to do. If you are applying for research programs for the coming summer or academic year, it might be best to write about that project. The more concrete, the better. The rest of the advice for the research essay still applies, with a little reframing. I would keep the introduction the same, and then discuss what you will do . Talk about the limitations of the work. You won’t have a proper results section, but explain what results you might want or expect and why the results will be useful, placing the proposed work in a larger context. Why should someone care about this research ?

You also have an additional short answer question to answer: “In the absence of formal research experience, describe any skills or accomplishments significant and relevant to this application (e.g., analytical, lab, presentation skills).” Here, you might want to describe skills that you’ve obtained that would prepare you for a research project. Maybe one of your classes included fieldwork, or programming assignments, or labwork, or presentations, for example. Relate these skills directly to the proposed work.

Letters of Recommendation

You have to choose three people to write letters of recommendation for you. For this, and for all competitive applications, these people need to really know you. You should send them your statements (drafts are fine), CV/resume, and make sure they are familiar with your goals and research. The faculty mentor for the work you write about in the research essay should be one of your writers. If possible, it would be good to get another person who has worked with you in a professional setting outside of the classroom, and one person who can speak to your abilities as a student. Be sure to also send them the Goldwater’s recommender tips to give them an idea of how they should be writing your letters.

The campus deadline for sending in initial applications varies from school to school, so you should contact your campus representative to determine your deadline. It will be somewhere from mid September to early January. I met with my campus representative in early August and began working on an outline and first drafts. Your exact workflow will depend on your campus deadline, but give yourself as much time as possible to revise, revise, revise. I advise spending time in the summer before the application is due to plan out the essays. By August, you should be in contact with your campus representative and writing your first drafts. The folks at the Goldwater put together this nice graphic that puts all of this in one place.

I found applying for the Goldwater to be an incredibly rewarding experience. If you intend on going into a career in STEM, especially an academic career, writing applications like this is going to become commonplace, and learning to write an effective application is a skill that is difficult to develop. Regardless of whether or not you receive the award, the experience of applying will be invaluable later on when applying for graduate fellowships such as the The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and The FORD Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship . All of this will be helpful for applying to graduate school, internships, or jobs. After receiving an honorable mention for the Goldwater, in the following year I went on to receive a graduate fellowship from Michigan State University, an honorable mention for the FORD Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, and ultimately an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

We have also started a Goldwater Scholars' Community: a network of scholars and honorable mentions to provide resources and experiences for scholars.

I applied for the Goldwater during my fourth year of undergrad (out of five) and received an honorable mention. You may find my application materials below.

Research Statement Short Answer Research Statements

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September 5, 2023 | Latest Issue

Five juniors win Barry Goldwater scholarship

The scholarship supports students interested in research related to the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics.

by Arizbeth Rojas | 4/21/22 5:00am

This year, all five Dartmouth juniors who applied for the prestigious Barry Goldwater scholarship were accepted, the College announced on April 11.

According to the press release, the five juniors will join a cohort of 417 students selected from an applicant pool of over 5,000 college students across the country interested in research fields related to natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. After completing an internal application and interview at Dartmouth, Chance Bowman ’23, Amanda Calhoun ’23, Katherine Lasonde ’23, Nicholas Sugiarto ’23 and Maxwell Teszler ’23 submitted their applications to the national level. 

According to the scholarship website, the program was formed in 1986 and honors the lifetime work of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater. The scholarship awards up to $7,500 per academic year to support student scientific research.

“I don’t think anyone really expects to win scholarships like this,” Lasonde said. “I’m really grateful and really lucky that I had all the help I did.”

Calhoun wrote in an emailed statement to The Dartmouth that she was “thrilled” and “in disbelief” to hear the news about the scholarship. Calhoun’s research involves investigating biomarker proxies which measure the carbon isotopes of lipids in some marine archaea — a type of bacteria — allow researchers to “reconstruct” the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“I was first attracted to the field of geobiology by an introductory course taught by professor [Justin] Strauss,” she wrote. “In my work on stromatolites, I began to think about biofilm communities, past environments, fluid mechanics, sediment transport and ocean chemistry.”

According to the College’s announcement, Teszler’s research will work on fighting hunger “across the globe” and making edible plants more resilient and nutritious. Working alongside biology professor Mary Lou Guerinot, Teszler is researching how plants take in iron.

Bowman wrote in an emailed statement to The Dartmouth that his research investigates a protein found in Staphylococcus Aureus, a bacteria which causes the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus infection. He wrote that his goal is to determine the structure of the protein and figure out how to interfere with its function to decrease the bacteria’s ability to defend itself from the human immune system. 

“The human immune system uses small peptides, called defensins, to attack bacteria. Staph. Aureus is able to sense and evade these defensins, and the protein that I am researching is involved in that response,” he wrote.

Bowman added that he is “surprised and elated” to be a Goldwater Scholarship recipient. 

Sugiarto said that his research involves understanding the mutations in a series of proteins called SWI/SNF and their relationships to tumor formation and color cancer. While he said that SWI/SNF is mutated in 25% of all human cancers, its mechanisms are not yet fully understood.

Sugiarto said that it “never occurred” to him to apply until he read an email about the scholarship. According to Sugiarto, the “long and lengthy” process involved recommendation letters, a research essay and personal essays. 

According to his research faculty advisor, Xiaofeng Wang, Sugiarto has been working in the lab for just under two years. Back in 2020, Wang said Sugiarto reached out to him via email, looking for research opportunities that could be conducted remotely. In the lab, Sugiarto handles computational components through coding and analyzes data generated from graduate student Luke Deary’s bench-based experiments. 

Sugiarto said that he began researching on a “whim” his freshman summer, but since then, the process has become a “driving force” in his life. 

Similarly, Lasonde said that she began her research journey her freshman year through the Women in Science Project. In the fall of 2019, Lasonde said she was matched to complete research with physics professor James Whitfield, in which she first learned about quantum computing. As Lasonde grew more interested in the hardware aspect of quantum computing, she switched over to working with engineering professor Eric Fossum, who specializes in image sensors. 

Lasonde said that her research focuses on building a quantum computer that uses “nitrogen vacancy defects” in diamonds, which demonstrate a series of “cool properties.” She added that she works closely with magnets, microwaves and cameras to determine the “energy level,” magnetic and thermal properties of the defects. 

In the future, Lasonde said that she hopes to get a master’s degree related to environmental science and eventually a Ph.D. According to Lasonde, quantum computers are well equipped to stimulate natural phenomena, making them useful in optimizing energy usage to combat climate change. She added that in the next five to 10 years, the industry is going to “explode.” 

Lasonde reflected positively on her formative experiences with the Women in Science Project, Undergraduate Research and Advising and the Stamps Scholars program which she said led to her Goldwater scholarship.  

“If I went to any other school, I probably would not be a Barry Goldwater scholar,” Lasonde said, noting Dartmouth’s “ample” research funding. 

Maxwell Teszler is a member of The Dartmouth opinion staff.

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USC Honors students earn Goldwater scholarships

Awards to boost young scientists’ research careers.

Undergraduate researchers thrive at the University of South Carolina. If you need proof, look no further than the Goldwater Scholarship, a national award recognizing the exceptional work and dedication of STEM undergraduates towards their research careers.

Even among the university’s 31-year legacy of success with this competition, this year stands out. For the first time since 2004, all four USC nominees — South Carolina Honors College students Shannon DePratter, Neal Hammond, Emma Mason and Amber Pospistle — have been named Goldwater scholars.

This honor is a testament to university’s dedication to scientific excellence, but for these four students, it’s something more: an opportunity to pursue their dreams and make a lasting impact on the world.

Meet Our 2023 Goldwater Scholars

USC’s newest Goldwater scholars are among the brightest and most ambitious young scientists in the country. Though they represent different academic interests, these four students share a goal of fighting disease and improving lives through groundbreaking research.

For out-of-state scholars Mason (Marietta, Georgia) and Pospistle (Huntersville, North Carolina), earning two of the university’s top undergraduate merit scholarships first attracted them to South Carolina, where they knew they would have support to pursue research.

Mason, a McNair Scholar studying biochemistry and molecular biology, researches nerve repair mechanisms in the lab of biological sciences professor Jeff Twiss. She also researches treatments for Lou Gehrig’s disease with support from 2022 and 2023 grants from the Mayo Clinic.

Pospistle, a Stamps Scholar, decided to create her own major through the Honors College. Her computational biology studies apply computer science, mathematics and statistics to probe biological questions.

Her research experience includes conducting a lung cancer research project on ferroptosis, an iron-independent form of cell death, under the mentorship of environmental health sciences assistant professor Guoshuai Cai and researching an inherited cancer predisposition syndrome at the renowned Memorial Sloan Ketter Cancer Center in New York. She is also currently preparing a first-author manuscript.

Spartanburg, South Carolina, native DePratter’s research interest is personal. The biomedical engineering major felt compelled to study neurological diseases after seeing firsthand the devastating effects of dementia in her great-grandmother. Now, she studies the link between traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease, working under the mentorship of chemical engineering professor Melissa Moss.

DePratter’s big picture goal? To help develop better treatments for neurological disorders, which affect more than 16 percent of the world’s population. “We must make treatment affordable, effective and accessible to all,” she says.

Understanding brain health is also a driving factor for Hammond, a Greenville, South Carolina, native double-majoring in biological sciences and neuroscience. Hammond currently studies the effects of psychological stress on memory in the lab of assistant professor Joseph McQuail at the School of Medicine Columbia and aspires to research molecular causation and behavioral treatments of addiction.

Their mentors describe them as leaders in their fields — hard-working, innovative scientists who are dedicated to making a difference.

The Road to Success

Becoming a Goldwater scholar is no easy feat: this year’s competition had a success rate of about 8 percent. But USC students are well prepared.

For one, students are encouraged and supported to develop their research skills, even in their first year. DePratter, who had never been in a research lab before coming to South Carolina, was encouraged to apply for research grants and present at conferences as a first-year student.

Mason’s story is similar: during her first semester, she connected with Twiss, who inspired her to explore a future as an M.D./Ph.D. and introduced her to research contacts around the country.

But applying for the Goldwater unlocks a whole new level of resources. Students spend months on their applications, working closely with their faculty mentors, the university’s national fellowships team and the Goldwater Scholarship faculty committee, led this year by Moss.

“This is an exceptional group of budding researchers, and we are delighted that all four of USC’s nominees have been named Goldwater Scholars,” Moss says. “[The committee] worked closely with these four students to assist them in crafting their experiences and ambitions into their applications.”

This level of individual feedback can transform a student’s vision of themselves and their future.

“Going through the application process, regardless of the outcome, is extremely beneficial,” explains Pospistle, who, in addition to the Goldwater, has applied for — and earned — fellowships with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the DAAD RISE German summer research program. “With guidance from my Goldwater committee mentors, I was able to see how my research experiences connected with each other and refine my research interests and goals.”

For these students, completing the application process is an accomplishment on its own. Of course, when everyone wins, it’s even better.

“Being named a Goldwater is a huge honor,” Hammond says. “It gives me a sense of confidence and renews my excitement to continue learning.”

Looking Ahead

Goldwater scholars receive up to a $7,500 yearly scholarship, but more importantly, they gain access to a network of leading researchers who provide mentorship and career opportunities.

For DePratter, Hammond, Mason and Pospistle, what started as an interest in undergraduate research has sparked a world of new possibilities.

“The University of South Carolina has been instrumental to my growth and development as a researcher,” says Mason, reflecting on her past three years on campus. “I am so grateful to how the university has allowed me to grow and explore my interests, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.”

This year’s Goldwater nominees received support from a committee of dedicated faculty: Melissa Moss (chair; engineering and computing), Dave Barbeau (earth, ocean and environment), Zhengqing Fu (biological sciences), Doug Meade (mathematics), Mark Uline (engineering and computing) and Yanwen Wu (physics and astronomy).

Students interested in applying for the Goldwater or other national fellowships should contact National Fellowships and Scholar Programs.