Four Duke Students Win Goldwater Scholarships
The scholarship program is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering
Monday, March 20, 2006
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Durham, N.C. -- Four Duke University students have been selected for Goldwater
Scholarships for the 2006-07 academic year.
They were among 323 sophomores and juniors chosen on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,081 mathematics, science and engineering students nationwide. The award provides up to $7,500 toward annual tuition and expenses.
This year’s winners from Duke are Joseph Babcock, Brandon Levin and Felicia Walton, all juniors, and Jonathan Russell, a sophomore. Sixty-two Duke students have received Goldwater Scholarships since the program was initiated in 1988.
“We are delighted that all four of our nominees were selected
for national Goldwater Scholarships this year,” said Mary Nihjout,
associate dean of Duke’s TrinityCollege of Arts & Sciences.
“They all arrived at Duke as strong students eager to not only
participate in research, but to contribute to their scientific
fields.”
Babcock, a junior from North Haven, Conn., is majoring in biology and chemistry. His current research in the biochemistry department with Arno Greenleaf. Ph.D., focuses on the regulation of gene expression in simple organisms. Babcock plans to pursue a career as a biochemist studying how biochemical pathways regulate the development of parasites responsible for tropical diseases such as malaria.
In addition to his research, Babcock serves in editor positions with Vertices, Duke’s journal of science and technology, and The Blind Spot, Duke’s sci-fi literary magazine.
Levin, a junior majoring in mathematics from Toledo, Ohio, plans to pursue a career in research in pure mathematics and is especially interested in number theory. “While chemists or physicists look at a molecule or an electron and try to determine its fundamental structure, number theorists want to understand the structure of the integers,” said Levin, who was a 2005 Fellow in the mathematics department with Les Saper, Ph.D.
Levin has been a counselor and lecturer at Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists, in Boston, and serves as an English as a Second Language teacher in the Durham community.
Russell, a sophomore from Iowa City, Iowa, is majoring in biology and chemistry. Following graduation from Duke, he plans to earn a dual M.D./Ph.D. degree followed by a career as a molecular geneticist in an academic medical center. In the laboratory of Alejandro Abally, Ph.D., in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Russell is studying the mechanism of action and synthesis of antimicrobial peptides in simple animal systems.
Russell is a co-founder and president of Students for Organ Donation and is a member of the First-Year Advisory Council.
Walton, a junior from Asheville, N.C., has been engaged in research since her first year at Duke. Majoring in biology and chemistry, she has been exploring the genetics of pathogenic fungi, the subject of two published papers she recently co-authored with her mentors, Joseph Heitman, M.D./Ph.D., and Alexander Idnurm, Ph.D., in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.
Walton is the current president of the Biology Majors Union and a volunteer biology tutor with the Duke-Durham Partners for Youth.
The scholarship program honoring the late U.S. Sen. Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Foundation’s announcement and list of scholars can be found at <http://www.act.org/goldwater/>.
Each of Duke’s three 2006 Rhodes Scholars were also Goldwater Scholars.