Three St. Thomas students have been awarded $7,500 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships for the 2007-2008 academic year. Left to right, they are: Nathaniel Brandt, Lindsey Hines and Christian Lytle.
Three UST students awarded prestigious Goldwater scholarships
Three of the nine college students from Minnesota who were awarded prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships for the 2007-2008 academic year are students at St. Thomas.
Juniors Nathaniel Brandt, Lindsey Hines and Christian Lytle will receive the $7,500 scholarships. A fourth St. Thomas nominee, Joseph Dubis, received honorable mention in the competition.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Sen. Barry M. Goldwater (R.-Ariz.), who had served 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The program was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.
This year's 317 Goldwater scholars – 174 men and 143 women – were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,110 students nominated by faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. Virtually all intend to obtain Ph.D. degrees. Twenty eight scholars are mathematics majors, 223 have majors in science and related fields, 54 are majoring in engineering, and 12 are computer science majors. Many of the scholars have dual majors in disciplines combining mathematics, science, engineering and computer science.
Recent Goldwater scholars have been awarded 69 Rhodes Scholarships (six of the 32 awarded to U.S. students last year), 86 Marshall Awards (six of the 44 awarded in the United States last year) and numerous other prestigious fellowships. Since 1998, 13 St. Thomas students received Goldwater scholarships.
In addition to the three St. Thomas students named among this year's scholarship winners are six other Minnesota students: Nicole Ali, who attends Harvard University; Michael Barany, Cornell University; Stephanie Irish, Michigan Technological University; Jennifer Lambrecht, Luther College; and students at only two other Minnesota colleges and universities – Kristine Knoll, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and Brian Krohn, Augsburg College.
Dr. Charlotte Ovechka, St. Thomas' liaison to the Goldwater program, shares the following short biosketches of St. Thomas' new Goldwater scholars and honorable mention recipient:
- Nathaniel Brandt, a chemistry and mathematics major from Minneapolis, has conducted research under the direction of Dr. Joseph Brom of the Chemistry Department in the UST College of Arts and Sciences. The topic of his research essay, which was part of the nomination, was: “Better Quenching Reagents for Photoinduced Electron Transfers of Pyrromethene Laser Dyes.” He plans to obtain a doctorate in chemistry and become a professor of chemistry at the college level.
- Lindsey Hines, a mechanical engineering and mathematics major from Maple Grove, has conducted research under the direction of Dr. AnnMarie Polsenberg Thomas in the UST School of Engineering. Her research title was: “Median or Paired-Fin Swimming as Applied to Underwater Robotics.” Her career goal is to obtain a Ph.D. and conduct research in biologically inspired technology.
- Christian Lytle, a physics and mathematics major from Rochester, Minn., has conducted research under the direction of Dr. Josh Nollenberg of the Physics Department in the UST College of Arts and Sciences. The topic of his research essay was: “Correcting the Galaxy-QSO Cross-Correlation with Multiple-plane Gravitational Lensing.” He intends to do research in astrophysics, with a focus on cosmology and/or particle astrophysics. He aspires to become a professor and involve students in his research.
- Joseph Dubis, a junior biology major from Milwaukee, Wis., received honorable mention in the competition. He has conducted research under the direction of Dr. Jayna Ditty of the Biology Department in the UST College of Arts and Sciences. His research essay was: “Determination of Gene Expression Refractory Period in Synechococcus elongatus.” His career goal is "to become educated in the functional systems of the human brain so as to understand and research its complexities."
In its 19-year history, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
and Excellence in Education Foundation has awarded 5,202 scholarships worth approximately $51 million. Its trustees plan to award about 300 scholarships for the 2008-2009 academic year.
For more information about the Goldwater Scholarships, contact Ovechka, (651) 962-5584.
