NC State's Impressive Goldwater Scholars

NC State is one of only seven universities to have four students selected as Barry M. Goldwater Scholars for the 2007-08 academic year. The recipients were Jennifer Boyd of Chesapeake, Va., a junior majoring in biomedical engineering; Joe Morrow of Brevard, N.C., a sophomore majoring in mechanical and aerospace engineering; Warren Perry of Wendell, N.C., a junior majoring in biological sciences; and Jennifer Ricks of Wilson, N.C., a junior majoring in biochemistry and chemistry with minors in genetics and religious studies.

The NC State students were among 317 recipients of the honor selected from a field of 1,110 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. The awards are based on academic merit and cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Boyd is a Caldwell Fellow and member of the University Scholars Program. A varsity athlete in track, Boyd's academic interests reflect her interest in real-world applications of the study of biomechanics: last summer, she worked in a gait-analysis lab at the University of Oxford. She plans to conduct biomechanics research and obtain her Ph.D. 

Morrow is a Caldwell Fellow and member of the University Honors Program. His interest in aerospace engineering - specifically wing development - is attributed to the many evenings he spent with his father watching launches on the U.S. Air Force base in Germany where he grew up. He also works hard outside the classroom, where he started a student organization called Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault. He plans to obtain a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering with an eye to a career in teaching and conducting research.

Perry is a Park Scholar and member of the University Scholars Program. He volunteers at both a local hospital and local medical school and performs research in a campus genetics lab. He has also become proficient in Spanish so that he can work with and translate for patients at a local health-care clinic where he serves as a certified nurse-assistant. Perry plans to attend an M.D.-Ph.D. program that will position him to serve his communities through a research-based clinical practice.

Ricks is a member of the University Honors Program. She currently works in a campus lab that designs viral vectors for cancer drugs. Last summer, she worked in the pharmacology department at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she investigated the effect of interferon treatment on mouse cancer cells. She also participated in a National Science Foundation-funded research project at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology. She plans to earn a Ph.D. in a field related to molecular biology and perform cancer research. 
Goldwater Scholarship selections are made by the board of trustees of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, a federally endowed agency established in 1986 to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Thirty-one NC State students have received the coveted Goldwater Scholarships since the program's inception.