Three Penn undergraduates have won the Goldwater Scholarship, granting them up to $7,500 for their tuition next year.
College sophomores Jonathan Bronson and Annemarie Fernandes and Engineering junior Ramez Haddadin were three of four Penn students to be nominated for the Goldwater.
Congress established the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program in 1986 in order to honor Senator Goldwater, who served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. It is awarded to college students who intend to pursue careers in engineering, math or science.
This year, 480 colleges and universities nominated 1,093 students for 300 Goldwater scholarships.
Penn was allowed to nominate up to four students who are currently sophomores or juniors for the scholarship. The award consists of up to $7,500 to cover tuition and fees. The sophomores will receive the grant for the next two years.
Haddadin said he regrets not applying last year, because as a junior he will only receive a one year grant.
With a major in bioengineering, Haddadin said that he would like to eventually work in a field that combines engineering with medicine.
"My plan is to get an MD/Ph.D. and do some combination of clinical practice and research," Haddadin said.
Fernandes, who also plans to do an MD/Ph.D. program, is interested in oncology research. She currently works in a lab at Penn's medical school, and Fernandes said that she thinks her practical research experience helped her win the scholarship.
However, Fernandes said she was still completely shocked to have won.
"I didn't even think I'd be nominated from Penn," Fernandes said. "So when I won, I was like, 'whoa.'"
Bronson, who is majoring in biochemistry, also has had a lot of research experience.
Bronson said he wants to get a Ph.D. in chemistry or biochemistry, and possibly conduct research concerning the chemical side of biological process to develop better drugs.
Because Penn can only nominate four people, the process begins with an internal application at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. After the four candidates were chosen, CURF Director Art Casciato helped the nominees with the applications.
"Art went through our essays... and did some fine-tuning," Haddadin said, who added that before he even got a letter from Goldwater informing him that he had won, Casciato e-mailed him to congratulate him.
"Art went over my whole application with me," Fernandes said.
Since CURF has taken over the job of nominating the candidates for the Goldwater two years ago, six of the eight nominees have won.
"We are particularly pleased with the consistency and momentum we have created in the past two years," Casciato said. "It's a combination of getting the right students to apply and nominating the right ones."
Casciato added that there is a strong correlation between winning the Goldwater and going on to win a Rhodes or a Marshall scholarship.
