Category Archives: Prestigious Scholarships

Marshall Scholars 2015: Eleven Public University Winners

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Eleven of the 31 Marshall Scholars for 2015 are from public universities, the same number selected in 2014. The Marshall Scholarship is one of the most prestigious in the world, providing full funding for two years of study at major universities in the United Kingdom.  In general, public universities fare better with Marshall Scholarships than with Rhodes Scholarships, partly because one of the Rhodes interview regions almost always selects an extremely high percentage of Ivy students.

Not that the Marshall process is unfriendly to the Ivies: Yale students won 6 Marshall Scholarships for 2015, a truly outstanding achievement.

Marshall Scholars may receive awards valued at about $28,000 a year.  The scholarship is for one, two, or three years, depending on the scholar’s plans, research focus, and disciplines offered at UK universities.

At least six of the 11 winners from state universities are enrolled in honors colleges or programs, while at least one more is in a university that does not have an honors program (UC Berkeley) and another winner is at a school that just started an honors program in Fall 2014 (UT Brownsville).

Auburn (Honors College), the University of New Mexico (one from honors program), and UT Austin (Plan II) have had Marshall Scholars in both 2014 and 2015.

Here is the 2015 list, with the name of the UK university below the winner’s name:

Nicholas Adler— Villanova
University of Cambridge

Gavin Baird–Cal State University Fresno
London School of Economics and Political Science

Christopher Birmingham–Gonzaga
University of Bristol

Morgan Breene — University of Rhode Island (and an honors program student)
University of Southampton

Hope Bretcher –University of Chicago
University of Edinburgh

Jacob Calvert — University of Illinois
University of Bristol

Hayden Dahmm –Swarthmore
University of Cambridge

Dahlia D’Arge –University of Kentucky, an honors program student, and ROTC
University of Glasgow

Benjamin Daus-Haberle –Yale University
University of Oxford

Edmund Downie –Yale University
University of Oxford

Julia Ebert – Northeastern University
University of London, Imperial College

Michael George –Harvard College
London School of Economics and Political Science

Tess Grogan –Smith College
University of St. Andrews

Anna Hagen –Harvard College
University of Oxford

Ryan Henrici –Penn State, and a Schreyer Honors College student
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Felipe Hernandez–UC Irvine, and a CHP Honors Program student
University of Bristol

Jeffrey Holzgrafe –Olin College of Engineering
University of Cambridge

Andrea Howard – United States Naval Academy
King’s College London

Mark Jbeilly –UT Austin, and a Plan II Honors student
University of Oxford

Adam Jermyn –Caltech
University of Cambridge

Linda Kintsler –Bowdoin
University of Cambridge

Sarah Mohamed –UC Berkeley
University of Oxford

Sarah Norvell, Yale
University of Oxford

Ashton Richardson –Auburn, and a student in the honors college
University of Sheffield

Amanda Rizzolo –Yale
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA)

Ryan Roco –Univ of New MexicoSchool of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Rahul Singh –Yale
London School of Economics and Political Science

Tayler Ulmer –Spelman College
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Spencer Wilson –MIT
University of Cambridge

Jacqueline Zavala –UT Brownsville
University of East Anglia

Meet Tayo Sanders–Rhodes Scholar 2015, UW-Eau Claire

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One of the most positive developments in higher education has been the establishment of honors colleges and programs in public “regional comprehensive” universities–and in the last few years both the honors programs and the universities have shown that their students can compete with any in the land.

Take the case of Tayo Sanders II, a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Honors Program student who has completed 11 research projects, published two papers in materials science journals, made 11 presentations around the country, won a Goldwater Scholarship…oh, and was named a Rhodes Scholar for 2015. 

In addition, in Spring 2015, Tayo will serve as a mentor in University Honors, co-teaching a section of Honors 100, said Dr. Jeff Vahlbusch, director of University Honors. The UW-Eau Clair Honors Program was one of five regional comprehensive honors programs we reviewed in the 2014 edition of A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs.  The other regional university honors programs or colleges we reviewed are at Eastern Illinois, Grand Valley State, UNC Wilmington, and Western Kentucky.

“In my judgment, Tayo Sanders will rise to the very top of every endeavor in which he chooses to take significant part, and will spend his life leading,” Vahlbusch said.  “In Tayo, a truly stellar intellect and a sheer unending range of interests and abilities are united with a wonderfully engaging personality, great communications skills, and deep care and respect for others.  Everything that Tayo is and does is characterized by a humane gentleness, a fine sense of humor, and strong loyalty to the programs and organizations in which he works and plays.”

In his spare time, Tayo serves as co-captain of the university’s triathlon club, and he has competed in collegiate triathlons around the country.  And then there’s his mastery of Salsa dancing, his work as a University Ambassador and Ronald E. McNair Scholar, and his community outreach work in which he interests K-6 students in STEM careers.  But nothing gets in the way of his passion for research.

“Tayo is an outstanding researcher, and I doubt there are many undergraduate researchers possessing such a broad, yet well-developed, skill set,” said Dr. Jennifer Dahl, an assistant professor in the department of materials science.  She has facilitated and mentored Tayo’s research for three years. “I met Tayo early in his first semester at UW-Eau Claire and was instantly impressed by his poise, intelligence and enthusiasm for science.”

Tayo Sanders and Dr. Jennifer Dahl

(Tayo will earn his bachelor’s degree in materials science with emphasis in chemistry and liberal arts from UW-Eau Claire in May 2015.)

He is one new Rhodes Scholar who has already been to Oxford:  Thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, he participated in a nanoparticles research project at the University of Strasbourg in France in the summer of 2013.  During the research program, he made a trip to Oxford University and met faculty and students and toured the materials labs.  It was then that he decided he wanted to pursue a doctorate at the famous institution–and now he will as a Rhodes Scholar.

A first generation college student, Tayo now wants to follow in the footsteps of his research mentor and the other faculty he has worked with in material science and the honors program.

“My ultimate goal is to become a professor and emulate the research experience I’ve had with Dr. Dahl with students of my own,” Tayo said. “I will do everything I can to be in a position where I can give hope to students like she has given hope to me. I also want to continue contributing to the pursuit of economical solar harvesting solutions, and be a powerful advocate for sustainable development and STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] education.”

“I’ve been so fortunate to have the opportunity to connect with so many faculty,” he said. “These are the individuals who have dedicated years of their lives to academic pursuits, and to be able to easily engage in direct discourse with professors creates opportunities for a much more profound comprehension of material.  UWEC’s emphasis on undergraduate research has also developed my ability to draw connections between material learned in my courses and their applications to the real world — a skill that will prove absolutely essential as I continue on my academic path at Oxford.”

“Tayo Sanders’ selection for this prestigious honor — in the company of fellow scholars from private institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, MIT and Princeton — is a testament to his outstanding effort as an undergraduate student,” said UW Chancellor James Schmidt. “It also is a testament to the contributions of the many dedicated faculty and staff here at UW-Eau Claire who day after day provide the excellent teaching and the beyond-the-classroom experiences that prepare our students to excel when they go out into the world with their Blugold degree in hand. Tayo is a shining example of the value of a UW-Eau Claire degree.”

The Rhodes Scholarships, averaging about $50,000 per year, cover all costs for two or three years of study at Oxford.  Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.

Rhodes Scholars 2015: Ivies Dominate, but Publics Earn Seven

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Editor’s Note:  Soon we will publish individual profiles of 2015 Rhodes Scholars who are also public honors students.

Yes, and to no one’s surprise, the Rhodes Scholarships continue to be awarded disproportionately to students from Ivy League universities, along with those from MIT and Stanford.  But outstanding students from Alabama Birmingham, Maryland, Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill, Tennessee Chattanooga, UT Austin, and UW-Eau Claire managed to earn what is probably the most prestigious scholarship in the world.   Six of the seven are present or former students in their schools’ honors programs or colleges.

The latest list of Rhodes Scholars (awarded in November 2014 for the year 2015) includes four recipients from Yale, three each from Brown and Princeton, two from Harvard and one each from Cornell and Dartmouth, giving the Ivy League 14 of the 32 awards won by American Students for 2015.  Rhodes awards for the year 2014 included 11 winners from Ivy schools; in 2013 there were 16.

The University of  Virginia has had three Rhodes Scholars in the two previous years, but none in 2015.  UVA and North Carolina at Chapel Hill are the leaders among all state universities in the number of Rhodes Scholars earned by their graduates.  UVA has 50 Rhodes Scholars, and UNC Chapel Hill now has 49.

Below are the districts from which the 2015 scholars were chosen.  Note that ALL BUT ONE of the winners from Districts 1 through 4 are from the Ivy League, illustrating yet again how difficult it is for public institutions in those districts to break through the Ivy Curtain and win the Rhodes award.

District 1 – Boston, MA
(Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont):  The two winners are from Harvard and MIT.
District 2 – New York, NY
(Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey): The two winners are from Yale and Harvard.
District 3 – New York, NY
(New York):  The two winners are from Yale and Princeton.
District 4 – Philadelphia, PA
(Pennsylvania, Rhode Island): The two winners are from Yale and Brown.
District 5 – Washington, DC
(Delaware, Maryland/DC): The two winners are from Maryland and Stanford.  The Maryland scholar is Fang Y. Cao, a student in the Integrated Life Sciences Program in the U of Maryland Honors College.
District 6 – Atlanta, GA
(Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina): The two winners are from UNC Chapel Hill and Dartmouth.  The UNC scholar is Sarah M. Bufkin, a former Honors Carolina student.
District 7 – Birmingham, AL
(Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi): The two winners are from UA Birmingham and Yale.  The UAB scholar is Ameen Barghi, an honors college student.
District 8 – Houston, TX
(Oklahoma, Texas): The two winners are from Brown and UT Austin.  The UT Austin scholar is Sai P. Gourisankar, a Plan II honors student.
District 9 – Indianapolis, IN
(Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia): The two winners are from Wabash College and Notre Dame.
District 10 – Chicago, IL
(Illinois, Ohio): The two winners are from Cornell and the Air Force Academy.
District 11 – Chicago, IL
(Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, West Virginia): The two winners are from Michigan and UW-Eau Claire.  The Michigan scholar is David S. Moore, a mechanical engineering major.  The UW-Eau Claire scholar is honors program student Tayo A. Sanders II.
District 12 – St. Louis, MO
(Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee): The winners are from MIT and Tennessee-Chattanooga.  The UT-Chattanooga scholar is honors college student Robert A. Fisher.
District 13 – Colorado Springs, CO
(Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming): The two winners are from Johns Hopkins and Stanford.
District 14 – Seattle, WA
(Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington): The two winners are from Santa Clara University and the University of Puget Sound.
District 15 – San Francisco, CA
(Arizona, California-North, Hawaii, Nevada): The two winners are from MIT and Princeton.
District 16 – Los Angeles, CA
(California-South): The two winners are from Brown and Princeton.


How Does It Feel to Win the $250,000 Hertz Fellowship…Plus Two Others?

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Editor’s note:  The following article by Dorothy Guerrero appeared in Alcalde, the alumni magazine of UT Austin….

Maybe you’ve had this nightmare: Dressed in a suit and tie, you sit at a table across from two geniuses who are exalted in their field. You’re in a room on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass., and the walls are made of glass, so everyone in the hallway can see you sweat. There’s a big stack of paper in the middle of the table and a couple of pens on either side to use if you need to draw a schematic to explain a concept. There is no way to cram for this oral exam because you are not being tested on something you have learned—but on everything you have ever learned.

No? Well it actually happened last March to Ashvin Bashyam, BS ’14, who managed to pass the daunting interview during his senior year at UT and win the Hertz fellowship for graduate education in the applied physical, biological, and engineering sciences. It’s a five-year award, valued at $250,000. He was one of only 15 students in the nation selected for the fellowship and the university’s fourth since 2011.

Bashyam was a researcher in UT’s Ultrasound Imaging and Therapeutics Research Laboratory, where he focused on improving cancer detection through advanced medical imaging. Geoffrey Luke, PhD ’13, who mentored Bashyam in the lab, says he knew he was special right away.

“Any time you are describing something to him,” Luke says, “he’s usually one step ahead. A student like Ashvin doesn’t come around very often.”

The goal of the Hertz interview is for the candidate to prove that he can think creatively and apply what he knows on the fly to unsolved problems. A panel of past winners asks open-ended, hypothetical questions.  Bashyam remembers being stressed out, but for the most part he felt he was doing well—until one question tripped him up.

“Imagine we are in the future of health care,” said one of his interrogators. “Fifteen to 20 years from now, and every disease is managed except for very early stage cancers. Those are still unstoppable until we can see them. So come up with a way for a hospital to screen every patient walking in … Go.”

Bashyam’s first attempt at an answer had something to do with using X-ray and MRI, but the panel interrupted him right away and told him to think more ambitiously.

“I started off recalling what I’d done in lab where we learn how cancer at its somewhat early stages starts to recruit blood vessels and raises the overall temperature in that area,” Bashyam says. “It’s a process called angiogenesis.”

So he threw out a proposal for a kind of imaging technique that looks for increased blood vessel density, or maybe changes in hemoglobin concentration.

“Nope,” they said, cutting him off again, “We’re talking about earlier.”

Good Fellow

That’s when Bashyam had to dig deeper and cast his thoughts wider than he had ever done before. He found himself talking about the immune system, which he says he knows very little about. He talked about inflammation, T-cells, and lymphocytes and then he said if we could somehow track the immune cells’ activity level, we would see it increase in response to cancer.

“I guess I must have said something intelligent,” he remembers, though still with a puzzled look on his face, “because eventually they nodded and we moved on.”

A few weeks after the interview, Bashyam got word that he’d won not just the Hertz, but also the National Science Foundation fellowship and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellowship.

“The Hertz alone is an amazing accomplishment for any individual and their school,” Luke says, “but then to get the other two as well, which are also very competitive … it’s a testament to Ashvin and how well he’s able to perform under pressure.”

This fall, Bashyam will return to the site of his interview to study medical engineering and medical physics as part of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. He’s looking forward to being in the middle of such a vibrant health-technology environment, where venture capital firms are supporting major innovations coming out of the program.

One day, he hopes to develop an implantable device that circulates around the body and looks for tumor cells. Anyone with any kind of cancer or risk factors could have one, and that, Bashyam says, would completely change the game.

“That’s a career goal,” he says with a grin.

Goldwater Scholar Profiles: University of Connecticut

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Editor’s note: This is another in our series featuring public university honors students who won prestigious Goldwater scholarships in 2014.  This post comes from the UConn Honors Program….

Three UConn honors students have each won a 2014 national Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for Excellence in Education.

The scholarships, honoring Sen. Barry Goldwater, are designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year. Both sophomores and juniors are eligible to apply.

Students are nominated for the award by UConn’s Office of National Scholarships, which supports them through the application process.

Michael Cantara ’16 (ENG) is an honors student from Barrington, R.I. He is a recipient of the Universities Space Research Association Education Scholarship, and a Learning Mentorship Scholarship through the School of Engineering. As a sophomore recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship, he will receive two years of funding.

Cantara has a passion for understanding the universe, and is currently conducting research in particle physics with Peter Schweitzer, assistant professor of physics, calculating “Q-balls, with a focus on their d1 term.” He is also working on a project with professor of physics William Stwalley and his team in the ultracold molecules laboratory.

Although it is early in his research career, Cantara has already participated in a summer research experience at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., and because of this experience now has a Department of Defense security clearance.

Cantara is also an active member of the Society of Physics Students and UConn’s Physics Club, and has spent numerous hours doing community service. A musician, he plays both the electric and acoustic guitar and has taught others how to play. He also enjoys tennis, golf, basketball, cycling, and skiing.

Peter J. Larson Jr. ’15 (CANR), an honors student from New Canaan, Conn., aspires to earn an MD/Ph.D. and become an innovator in the world of virology, viral vectors, or gene therapy. He is currently working in the lab of Paulo Verardi, assistant professor of pathobiology, studying methods to produce recombinant vaccinia viruses. He has presented two posters on his research and is collecting more data for publication.

He has also been a research associate for the Tobacco Cessation Program at St. Vincent’s hospital in Bridgeport, Conn., and conducted field research on water quality in local rivers while still in high school. When he’s home, he is an active firefighter and EMT for the Vista Fire Department in Lewisboro, N.Y. (which is adjacent to New Canaan), and was named Rookie of the Year in 2011.

On campus, he is also busy outside of the lab, as a member of the UConn Ballroom Dance Team, and within the Honors Program, as a student worker and a mentor with the PATH Honors Mentoring Program, among other activities. He has received numerous awards, including the James Dewitt Scholarship, the William H. Allen Scholarship, and an Academic Excellence Scholarship. In 2012, the UConn Residence Hall Association named him President of the Year by for his work on the Buckley-Shippee-Sylvie Area Council.

Patrick J. Lenehan ’15 (CLAS), an honors student from Cheshire, Conn., is currently conducting research with Barbara Mellone, assistant professor of molecular and cell biology, on proteins and the formation of centromeres and kinetochores in Drosophila.

He has also worked in the lab of Rajeswari Kasi, associate professor of chemistry, investigating the use of high-molecular weight poly-acrylic acid to stabilize enzymes, and is contributing to a publication with Dr. Melanie Collins, whom he shadowed in the Pulmonary Department at Central Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, on the treatment of pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis. He was previously a research assistant for Dr. Alireza Shamshirsaz in the Department of Maternal and Fetal Medicine at UConn Health, where he contributed to several publications on obstetrics.

Ultimately, Lenehan plans to earn an MD/Ph.D., become a research oncologist, and advance treatments of the disease. At UConn, his stellar academic record has earned him recognition as a Babbidge Scholar. He is also the recipient of the Presidential Scholars Award Scholarship and the United Technologies Corporation Academic Scholarship.

In addition to his demanding course load and research schedule, Lenehan is a member of UConn’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Team.

Goldwater Scholar Profiles: University of Kentucky

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Editor’s Note: This is the latest in our continuing series of profiles featuring students from public university  honors programs who won Goldwater Scholarships in 2014.  The following information is from the University of Kentucky.

The University of Kentucky Office of External Scholarships announces Samuel Saarinen, of Shelbyville, Ky., has been awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship worth up to $7,500 per year. Saarinen is one of 283 students nationwide awarded the Goldwater Scholarship this year. This year’s Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,166 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.

Saarinen plans to use the Goldwater Scholarship to fund studies at the graduate program of his choice.

The son of Anne and Tim Saarinen, Saarinen is currently pursuing computer science, mathematics and physics majors. He has been active in research since an early age working with Western Kentucky University professors Claus Ernst and Uta Ziegler on mathematics research in high school.

 A member of the UK Honors Program, Saarinen is currently participating in undergraduate research with Judy Goldsmith, professor of computer science at UK College of Engineering. Saarinen considers his research supervisors as also mentors who have had a major impact on his academic and personal growth. He also credits Paul Eakin, professor of mathematics, and Jerzy Jaromczyk, associate professor of computer science, as great influences on his studies.

Fellow winnerMatthew Fahrbach is a rising senior from Louisville KY with a 4.0 gpa, majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. He was awarded a Presidential Scholarship to attend UK.  As a sophomore, Matthew was selected as a Chellgren Fellow and conducted research with Dr. Jerzy Jaromczyk on shortest k-radius sequences. He presented this research at the 2013 UK Showcase for Undergraduate Scholars. 

For the summer of 2013, he was accepted by an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Washington where he conducted research in enumerative combinatorics under the mentorship of Dr. Sara Billey. The research showed that each peak in a peak set is a root of the corresponding peak polynomial, and furthermore, if an odd difference exists between two peaks, then a subset of the peak polynomial’s integral roots.

Matthew was the Team Captain of the University of Kentucky Association of Computing Machinery Programming Team when they were named the top public school team in the Mid-Central North American region.  He is also an active member of Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity and completes at least 20 hours of community service per semester, primarily at Peacemeal Community Gardens. Matthew will graduate from UK in May 2015 and plans to pursue a PhD in Computer Science.  He hopes to research mathematical algorithms and teach as a professor at a university. He also wants to work closely with undergraduate students by mentoring research projects and coaching a competitive programming team.


 

 

 

Goldwater Scholar Profiles: UMass Commonwealth Honors College

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Editor’s Note:  This is another in a series of profiles of 2014 winners of Goldwater Scholarships who are students at public university honors colleges or programs.

Three Commonwealth Honors College students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have received scholarships for work in the natural sciences and engineering as part of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program. Another received an honorable mention.

According to Susan Krauss Whitbourne, a professor of psychology and Director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement (ONSA) at the Commonwealth Honors College, “each participating campus can nominate up to four applicants, so we were particularly pleased that three of our UMass students won, and the fourth was recognized with Honorable Mention. This is a tribute to the great research being carried out by our faculty, and their dedication to advising and mentoring undergraduates in their labs.”  Working with Professor Whitbourne is Dr. Howard Schultz, a Lecturer in the Honors College, who assisted in recruiting applicants and advising those who were nominated on their final applications.

The winners are Alyson Warr, a junior majoring in microbiology from Freetown, MA; Stefan (Marco) Eres, a junior chemistry major from Knoxville, TN; and Marianne Sleiman, a junior chemical engineering major from Greenville, R.I. John Manteiga, a junior from North Andover, MA, pursuing majors in microbiology and biochemistry and molecular biology received honorable mention.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater for his service as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate.

Goldwater scholarships are intended to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. Each competing university nominated its top four students, who were then evaluated by the national Goldwater Scholarship selection committee. From a field of 1,166 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated by colleges and universities, 283 received scholarships and 247 received honorable mentions. The one- and two-year scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Alyson Warr has worked in the laboratory of microbiology professor Steven Sandler since 2012, and has studied cell division, recombination and repair in Escherchia coli bacteria. She is currently working on a project to identify genes that contribute to a novel cell division phenotype in response to stress conditions.

“With the age of antibiotics drawing to a close, the need for innovative drug targets and novel therapies to control bacterial growth is urgent,” said Warr. “I am committed to contributing to this development by elucidating the mechanistic details of cell division.”

Warr plans to pursue a Ph.D. in microbiology. After graduate school, she hopes to conduct research at a major university with a focus on developing novel drug therapies to control the spread of antibiotic resistant pathogens.

Marco Eres has worked with chemistry professor Dhandapani Venkataraman since 2011 studying organic photovoltaic cells and pursuing a new approach to fabricate semiconducting inks and methods to print photovoltaic cells. The lab is developing nanoscale components in the inks that will self-assemble into structures necessary for the production of solar cells.

Eres said, “I am motivated to pursue this project because it enables me to contribute to the shift in the chemical research community from the study of the relationship of atoms through strong covalent bonds to the study of the relationship of molecules through weaker, non-covalent attractions, a field known as supramolecular chemistry. I aim to use the knowledge I gain in this project to design new functional materials for applications in organic photovoltaics and sensing.”

Eres plans to pursue a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, specializing in supramolecular chemistry. His career plan is to lead a materials science research team in academia or industry.

Marianne Sleiman works with chemical engineering professor Shelly Peyton to study methods for using biomaterial systems to quantify how cancer cells respond to drugs when they are placed in environments that mimic a natural in vivo environment. In particular, they are interested in determining the relationship between tumor stiffening and the efficacy of a variety of underperforming chemotherapeutics.

“I am motivated to continue this leading research by using my knowledge to find a novel method to facilitate therapeutics during the drug screening process,” said Sleiman. “This research will help identify how mechanical and chemical changes in the ECM affect tumor growth and drug resistance, which will improve therapeutic methods, thus furthering cancer drug research.”

After graduation Sleiman will pursue a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and hopes to lead a research team that will focus on understanding carcinomas and finding novel therapies to impede the development of tumors.

John Manteiga has worked with microbiology professor John Lopes since 2012 to study the proteins responsible for the regulation of gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast.             

“Understanding how proteins work and interact with one another is an essential step on the path toward curing cancer and many other genetic diseases.” Manteiga intends to earn a Ph.D. and then pursue work in biotechnology, genetic diseases, or pharmaceuticals in an industrial research setting.

According to Susan Krauss Whitbourne, director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement at Commonwealth Honors College, each nominee was required to submit an application, an essay describing academic and career plans, a research proposal, and three letters of reference.

Goldwater Scholar Profiles: ASU Barrett Honors Students

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Editor’s Note: The post below by Arizona State writer Sarah Auffret is another in our series on 2014 Goldwater scholars from public university honors programs….

Three outstanding Arizona State University juniors who already are doing sophisticated research have won Goldwater Scholarships, the nation’s premier awards for undergraduates studying science, math and engineering.

Working in the laboratories of ASU senior faculty and scientists, the students carry out research ranging from developing biosensors for early detection of infectious diseases to conducting microelectronics research at ASU’s Flexible Display Center.

Recipients are Ryan Muller of Phoenix, majoring in biochemistry and molecular/cellular biology; Brett Larsen of Chandler, majoring in electrical engineering and physics; and Jakob Hansen of Mesa, a mathematics and economics major. Each of the four will receive $7,500 a year for up to two years.

All are in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, while Larsen is also in the Fulton Schools of Engineering. All three are enrolled in Barrett, the Honors College. A fourth student who received honorable mention is Samuel Blitz, a physics major from Scottsdale.

ASU students have won 55 Goldwater Scholarships in the last 21 years, placing ASU among the leading public universities.

Muller is a resourceful and motivated student who began doing research at ASU while still a student at North High School, and again the summer before his freshman year. Xiao Wang, assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, remembers that even though Muller was initially the youngest member of the iGEM synthetic biology research team, others quickly began to rely on him.

“His ideas were fresh, innovative and motivating to the team,” says Wang. “In fact, the first day he volunteered in my lab, without any prior experience, he implemented a strategy to effectively screen for bacterial colonies that contained the correct transformed plasmid. The team began to rely on his resourcefulness.”

In subsequent years, Muller continued working on the team and was a key player in helping them develop a portable, low-cost biosensor system to detect pathogens in water supplies. They won a gold medal and a spot in the international championship event for one of the world’s premiere student engineering and science competitions.

Interested in expanding their work, Muller and others assembled a team of undergraduate researchers to seek additional funding. Last year, they were grand prize winners at the ASU Innovation Challenge and at the ASU Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative. Their fledgling company, Hydrogene Biotechnologies, may help cut down on water-borne diseases that can kill, such as acute childhood diarrhea.

Hansen, a graduate of Red Mountain High School, is a talented mathematician who has been a delight to his professors as someone who enjoys the formal beauty of mathematics, yet is committed to doing research into real problems that affect humans.

“Jakob is exceptionally talented at mathematics, and is one of relatively few undergraduates that I have taught at ASU who was equally enthusiastic about pure and applied mathematics,” says Jay Taylor, assistant professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistical Sciences. “He was always very keen to discuss the theory underpinning the techniques that I presented in class.

“For his project, he wrote a computer program to simulate a malaria outbreak in a small population and used this to investigate the conditions under which malaria will persist in small populations subject to seasonal variation in transmission intensity.”

Hansen participated in ASU’s Computational Science Training for Undergraduates last summer with Rosemary Renaut, professor of mathematics, who praised his mathematical sophistication to the Goldwater committee. He is continuing his research with Renault into more abstract problems.

Larsen, a graduate of Tri-City Christian Academy, received funding early in his career from the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative. Over the past two years, he has conducted research at ASU’s Flexible Display Center, developing ultra low-power circuits and applying advanced signal processing techniques to personnel detection along borders and in hostile territory.

Larsen says his interest in science was sparked by a Boy Scout leader, an electrical engineer who talked to him about subjects that enthralled him: objects traveling at the speed of light, the astonishing power of fusion and fission reactions, and theoretical designs for time machines and light sabers. Larsen was inspired to excel in science so he could push the boundaries of technology.

Called “a brilliant young man” by Antonia Papandreou-Suppappola, professor of electrical engineering, Larsen shares his love of science by mentoring a group of engineering freshmen and leading a science club for young children at the Child Crisis Center. In the future, he hopes to focus his work on developing mathematical models for defense applications.

“ASU’s success in the Goldwater competition is in large part due to the excellent opportunities our students have had to do advanced lab research with talented and committed faculty,” says Janet Burke, associate dean for national scholarship advisement in Barrett, the Honors College.

“It goes without saying that the drive and brilliance of the students themselves are both important. I have a top-notch Goldwater committee who do a superb job of selecting the students whose applications will bubble to the top of the pile.”

Udall Scholars 2014: Montana State Leads Public Universities

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The year 2014 again yielded a smaller list of Udall Scholars than in the past, only 50 nationwide, versus 80 awarded in previous years.  Only two universities, public or private, had more than one Udall scholar in 2014–Green Mountain College, a private institution in Vermont, and Montana State University, which also had four Goldwater winners this year.

Udall scholarships valued at up to $5,000  are awarded to sophomore and junior level college students committed to careers related to the environment, tribal public policy, or Native American health care. Many of the awards are for environmental research.

Below are the public universities in the continental U.S. that have Udall scholars this year:

Houston, Central Florida, North Georgia, Texas A&M, Connecticut, Virginia Tech, Ball State, Minnesota-Morris, Wisconsin, Utah, Ohio, West Virginia, Nebraska, UC Berkeley, New College of Florida, Ohio State, Montana, Alabama-Birmingham, South Florida, College of Charleston, Montana, Montana State (2), New Hampshire, Purdue, S. Dakota School of Mines, and Oregon State.

 

Honors Programs+STEM Majors=Goldwater Scholars

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Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of posts on the value of Goldwater scholarships for undergraduates.  Future posts will include profiles of honors students from many universities, all of whom earned Goldwater scholarships in 2014.

Our interest in Goldwater scholars “stems,” so to speak, from the conviction that public university honors students who win the awards affirm that their typically large institutions can nevertheless provide excellent, individualized instruction and research opportunities for undergraduates, while serving the national need for outstanding STEM graduates.

Goldwater scholars earn a $7,500 scholarship to help them complete their undergraduate education.  The Goldwater award is undoubtedly the most prestigious undergraduate award.  Public university students earned more than half of the 281 awards in 2014.  Many Goldwater Scholars go on to earn Rhodes, Marshall, Gates Cambridge, Churchill, or Truman awards when they graduate.  Those and others also compete strongly for National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research fellowships to further their studies for advanced degrees.

Our view that public honors colleges and programs enjoy a significant relationship with Goldwater achievement is based on our analysis of Goldwater winners who attend one of the public universities we have reviewed, or will review in a new book to be published later this year.

A total of 90 students from these universities won Goldwater scholarships in 2014, and 71 of those students (79%) were in honors colleges or programs.  What is remarkable about this is that some STEM students, especially those in engineering, might be tempted to shy away from honors programs because the basic requirements of their majors are so rigorous to begin with.  But, increasingly, honors colleges and programs are emphasizing undergraduate research and mentoring that can give honors students more access to top researchers.

Notably, scholars from nineteen universities with multiple winners were all honors students: Alabama, ASU, Clemson, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa State, LSU, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, South Carolina, U at Buffalo, and Vermont.  Delaware, NC State, and Oklahoma each had two winners, with three total apiece.