Four Penn undergraduates receive Goldwater Scholarships

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Three juniors and one sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania have been selected as Goldwater Scholars by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which provides scholarships of as much as $7,500 to undergraduate students interested in research careers in the natural sciences, math, or engineering.

They are among 496 recipients chosen this year from across the United States from out of more than 5,000 applicants. To date, 43 Penn students have received the award since Congress established the foundation in 1986 to honor the work of U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater.

The 2019 Goldwater Scholars from Penn are:

Chloe Cho, a sophomore from Moorestown, New Jersey, majoring in bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She works with Jason Mills and Jean Bennett at the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics on engineering novel treatments for retinal degenerative disorders. Cho intends to pursue a MD/PhD in bioengineering.

Lauren Duhamel, a junior from Groton, Massachusetts, majoring in chemical and biomolecular engineering in Penn Engineering. She has worked in the labs of Joshua Klein and Ophir Shalem, and has recently published as first author the results of her multi-year research project on high purity charge variant samples of monoclonal antibody drug therapies at Bristol-Meyers Squibb. She intends to pursue a PhD, and then teach and conduct research.

Srinivas Mandyam, a junior from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, majoring in math, physics, and biophysics, and also pursuing a master’s in physics, in the School of Arts and Sciences. He works on graphene field effect transistors and the growth of two-dimensional materials in the lab of Charlie Johnson. The recipient of the Vagelos Challenge Award, Mandyam intends to eventually pursue a PhD in physics.

Abigail Poteshman, a junior from New York City majoring in math and physics in the School of Arts and Sciences. Working in Danielle Bassett’s lab, the Complex Systems Lab, Poteshman has published two first-author papers on network science. She is both a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar, and she has participated in the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program. She intends to become a computational condensed matter physicist.

Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships each year nominates four students for the award, and provides advising assistance. Fellowship Faculty Review Committee members Dr. Yale Cohen (MED Otorhinolaryngology) and Dr. Ravi Sheth (SAS Physics) reviewed applications. CURF's Dr. Ann Vernon-Grey worked closely with each nominee to greatly strengthen their application.

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