Science Standouts: Four Students Garner Goldwater Scholarship Honors

All four of this year’s Smith applicants for coveted Goldwater scholarships received awards or honorable mentions—an indication of the college’s strength in preparing talented young scientists.

The Goldwater Scholarship Program, established in 1986 in honor of the late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, is the most prestigious undergraduate award program in the sciences. Each year, scholarships are awarded to about 300 U.S. college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue careers in science, math and engineering.

Smith’s 2015 Goldwater scholarship recipients are Katie McGeough and Arcadia Kratkiewicz, both rising seniors. McGeough’s scholarship will help support her lab research in drug development and synthesis. Kratkiewiez will continue her research in biochemistry at Smith after completing a year of study in the college’s Les Sciences à Paris program, where she is taking courses in her major and doing a research internship.

Two other Smith students received Goldwater honorable mentions: Jamie A. Cyr ’16, a mathematics major who spent spring semester at Oxford University completing a mathematical research project in a cancer lab, and Jane Weinstock ’16, a double major in geosciences and biological sciences, who spent last semester in New Zealand, taking courses and conducting independent research in oceanography.

Competition for the Goldwater awards is intense. Colleges and universities may nominate four students annually for scholarships. Applicants are judged based on academic achievement, how well prepared they are for careers in a STEM field and an essay they submit about current or future research.

Lamb noted that this year, Smith garnered more Goldwater scholarships than Harvard, Princeton or Brown, which each had one scholarship award.

Margaret Lamb, administrative director of the Clark Science Center at Smith, said applications submitted by Smith students stood out in a number of ways.

“The early starts to their research, the variety of research experiences they had and the clarity and eloquence of each individual’s writings about their scientific interests and plans were striking,” she said. “Also striking was the inclusion of study abroad in each student’s college experience.”

Lamb noted that this year, Smith garnered more Goldwater scholarships than Harvard, Princeton or Brown, which each had one scholarship award.

“Our recommenders wrote enthusiastically about our students’ academic abilities, research success, motivation, great prospects for graduate school and bright futures ahead as scientists,” Lamb said. “Clearly, the Goldwater Foundation’s selection panel thought so, too.”

McGeough, who is an AEMES Scholar at Smith, said she is “honored and excited” to receive a scholarship.

AEMES, short for Achieving Excellence in Mathematics Engineering and Science, offers students historically underrepresented in STEM fields mentoring, leadership and research opportunities with the goal of building a more diverse STEM community.

McGeough said the Goldwater award will help pay for a portion of her tuition next year, allowing her to focus on her research and on applications to graduate school, where she plans to earn a Ph.D. in organic chemistry.

At Smith, McGeough has been studying the structure of neurolenin B—a substance that can be extracted from a plant—as a bioactive against elephantiasis, one of the most common of the World Health Organization’s named Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Kratkiewiez will be returning from France later this summer to begin her Smith Summer Research Fellowship Program.

Members of Smith’s Goldwater scholarship selection committee were Patricia DiBartolo, professor of psychology and faculty director of the sciences; Gwen Spencer, assistant professor of mathematics and statistics; Bosiljka Glumac, professor of geosciences; and Elizabeth Jamieson, associate professor of chemistry.