Jessica Badger (2007) was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship, and John Rhoden (2007) received an Honorable Mention.

Jessica Badger (2007) was awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2006-07 academic year. One of this year’s 323 recipients, she was selected from a field of 1,081 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. John Rhoden (2007) was one of 128 recipients to be named honorable mention.

A Fayetteville native, Jessica is majoring in microbiology and works with Dr. Amy Grunden. Last summer, she worked in chemistry and biochemistry labs at the University of Montana, on an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates award. She plans to return there to continue her research this year. After graduation, Jessica hopes to specialize in proteomics in graduate school, before becoming a professor.

John is studying chemical engineering and is currently a member of Dr. Jason Haugh’s lab in the Department of Chemical and Biomolceular Engineering. His research interests center around the fundamentals of wound-healing processes at the molecular level. He has spent summers with a cardiovascular simulations lab at Duke, and last spring he studied engineering—in Spanish—at Valencia Polytechnic University. After graduate school, John plans to teach and do research in a university setting.

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.

Twenty-seven NC State students have received the coveted Goldwater Scholarships since the program’s inception, including seven Park Scholars.