Two students recommended by the faculty and staff of Vanderbilt University have been selected as 2008 Goldwater Scholars. Each will receive a two-year scholarship worth $7,500 a year for educational expenses.
Each year, Vanderbilt and other four-year universities are given the opportunity to nominate up to four outstanding sophomore and junior students in the math, science and engineering fields. Two-year schools may nominate up to two students. Competition for the award is fierce: 278 scholars were selected on academic merit this year from a field of 1,097 students.
The Vanderbilt students who are 2009 Goldwater Scholars are biomedical engineering students Rosalynne Korman and Andrew Jallouk.
Korman is a sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio. She plans to pursue a joint M.D./Ph.D. in molecular biology, conducting research in immunology and care for immunodeficient patients. She currently works under the direction of Antonis Rokas, assistant professor of biology, in a comparative genomics lab researching the evolutionary relationship of fungal allergens. Korman is fluent in Russian and lives in the Russian hall in the McTyeire Residence Hall. She is an active member of Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science (VSVS) and Vanderbilt Chabad.
Jallouk is a junior from Oak Ridge, Tenn. He is interested in earning a M.D./Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, focusing his research on the use of nanotechnology in the development of sensors and instrumentation for early detection and treatment of disease. He works in the lab of Prasad Shastri, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, designing and conducting experiments to analyze the effect of various formation parameters on the physicochemical properties of polymeric nanoparticles. He has spent the past three summers as a research intern at the Oak Ridge National laboratories. His Vanderbilt activities include VSVS, Math Club, Investment Club and the Biomedical Engineering Society.
Of the 278 recipients of the 2009 Goldwater, 163 of the scholars are men, 115 are women, and virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their degree objective. Thirty scholars are mathematics majors, 190 are science and related majors, 51 are majoring in engineering and seven are computer science majors. Many of the scholars have dual majors in a variety of mathematics, science, engineering and computer disciplines.
The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established by Public Law 99-661 on Nov. 14, 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring the late Sen. Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.