The Road to a Goldwater Scholarship

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This year, 211 students — 33 of whom are majoring in physics fields — were selected from more than 1200 applications based on their academic achievements and commitment to research. Along with the honor of becoming a Goldwater Scholar, winners will receive either a one- or two-year scholarship, depending on whether they are sophomores or juniors, of up to $7,500 per year. Scholarship recipients in physics were also awarded a one-year membership in APS. An additional 281 students received an Honorable Mention.

Even just becoming an applicant for the Goldwater Scholarship — let alone a winner or an honorable mention — is the mark of an exceptional student: To apply, a student must be nominated by a Goldwater Campus Representative. Scoring such a nomination requires students to participate in, or display interest in, meaningful scientific research.

The process of becoming a Goldwater Scholar is lengthy: It doesn’t begin with the application, nor does it happen without help. Three 2018 Goldwater Scholars shared their path to the scholarship with APS News and reflected on the relationships that helped them get there.

Liam Lambert, a student at Roanoke College in Virginia, is no stranger to the Goldwater Scholarship: Last year, as a sophomore, he received an Honorable Mention. Since very few sophomores win the Goldwater Scholarship each year, Lambert was undeterred from applying again, this time with even better results.

The difference for Lambert this year wasn’t just five more months of research experience between March (when Goldwater Scholars are announced) and September (when applications open). The key was figuring out how to best tell his research story, something several campus advisors helped him do.

Lambert’s research experience at Roanoke began thanks to a professor he befriended who connected him with Rama Balasubramanian. Balasubramanian would become one of Lambert’s research advisors, and she also serves as the Goldwater Scholarship Campus Representative for Roanoke College. She suggested Lambert should apply for the scholarship after his first semester of research.

"Liam is incredibly motivated to understand every aspect of his research and seeks to find answers, however big or small," says Balasubramanian. "I noticed this unique quality when he joined my lab in his first year. Now, he is a seasoned research student in our department, and I am confident he will make big strides in his future career. "

In this year’s application essay — the three-page cornerstone of the Goldwater Scholarship application — Lambert focused on how his research has progressed. His first research project involved working with nanoparticles used to create carbon nanotubes, which developed into an engineering project that more fully lined up with his interests: building a device to measure the size of these nanoparticles.

"Never be afraid to tell a professor what type of research project you want to work on," says Lambert.

He also expects his research to continue evolving: Lambert intends to conduct research on microscopic flows of fluid over surfaces in the future.

"The research you do in college doesn’t have to be what you want to do later," says Lambert. "It’s just important to show an appreciation for research and all that comes with it."

Lambert attributes some of his success, both in research and in achieving the Goldwater Scholarship, to attending a smaller college, which has allowed him to develop one-on-one relationships with faculty. And he encourages other students to start this process early.

"If you’re interested in research, get connected early," Lambert says. "You don’t have to wait to start school — you can talk to professors about research during college visits."

Mika Sarkin Jain, a junior studying physics at Stanford University, has an impressive range of research interests, from soft matter physics to optics to fluid mechanics — especially where these physics fields intersect with biomedicine. He learned about the Goldwater Scholarship from an advisor he was speaking to about research funding who suggested he apply.

"That’s a big part of this story: nothing happens in isolation," he says.

But Jain’s journey to the Goldwater Scholarship began long before he started working on new diagnostic imaging techniques or mathematically modeling brain malformations.

"As a child, I asked a lot of questions — What are magnets? What is light? How does the human body work?" says Jain. "I guess I never outgrew these kinds of questions, and Stanford was the perfect place to ask them."

Jain’s innate curiosity spurred him to seek out new ideas and research projects early on in his college career.

"I started reading papers and bringing research ideas to professors," says Jain. "I’m incredibly grateful to those professors, post-docs, and others who have made all of this possible."

When applying for the Goldwater Scholarship, students are asked to list one or more research mentors. Jain listed six, who he says all played a huge role in his research and in developing his goals outside of the classroom.

Jain offered two pieces of advice for students who would follow his path into research and science: form relationships with faculty, and take advantage of available non-science classes.

"My ideas haven’t always come to me when I’m thinking about science," says Jain. "Fermenting different topics in my mind, like art and language, has sparked ideas that drove my research."

Renata Koontz almost didn’t submit her application for the Goldwater Scholarship, and she had no expectations of winning. Now, she’ll receive funding that will help her purchase a new computer to further her research in computational cosmology.

Koontz, a student at the University of California: Riverside, knew she wanted to do some kind of physics research — at first she was interested in gravity, but then started reading about dark matter, which is now the focus of one of her research interests. She also knew she didn’t want to do "pen and paper work" — her words for theoretical physics — and her institution has few experimental physicists. For Koontz, computational physics was the perfect middle ground.

Her freshman year, Koontz was introduced to Hai-Bo Yu, a theoretical physicist whose work applied to astrophysics. He needed a student who knew how to program to analyze simulations — and Koontz was just the student for the job.

"Renata approached me as a freshman about research. I was worried the learning curve would be too high but I found a project for her," said Yu. "After a year she wanted something more challenging and began working on simulations of the universe — she learned the coding to do this pretty much alone and produced amazing results."

When a classmate told Koontz about the Goldwater Scholarship, urging her to apply, she was hesitant.

"I told him I don’t know if I can do that," says Koontz. "But then I was approached by the Goldwater Campus representative and she convinced me it was a good fit."

Koontz thought about the application as a trial run for grants she’d have to apply for in the future, and just the process of writing her essay helped her prepare for the future.

"It helped me come up with a vision for my short-term goals — like what I would do if I won the scholarship — and helped clarify my vision for long term," says Koontz. "I learned you don’t have to know exactly what you want to do, but you have to be able to envision short- and long-term goals."

Another faculty member, Flip Tanedo, was also integral to Koontz’s Goldwater Scholar success.

"Dr. Flip gave me insight into how to communicate about my research better," says Koontz. "He gave me a lot of support and confidence in the application process."

Koontz urges other would-be Goldwater Scholars not to worry about perfection. "Don’t worry about being prepared for research — just jump in and give it a try," she says. "Also don’t worry about being a perfect applicant — I didn’t have any expectations, but I still won!"