From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Sat Apr 05 2003 - 08:47:53 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: cunews_at_cornell.edu
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 4:23 PM
To: CUNEWS-CAMPUS-L_at_cornell.edu
Subject: Cornell News: 2003 Goldwater Scholarships
Four Cornell undergraduates win Goldwater Scholarships in 2003
FOR RELEASE: April 4, 2003
Contact: Roger Segelken
Office: 607-255-9736
E-mail: hrs2_at_cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, the most prestigious
national awards for undergraduate students in the fields of science,
mathematics or engineering, have been won by four Cornell University
students: Mark Laidre, a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
junior from Gansevoort, N.Y.; Eric L. Margelefsky, a College of
Engineering junior from Sylvania, Ohio; Sara T. Parker, a College of
Engineering junior from Brecksville, Ohio; and Niraj M. Shanbhag, a
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences sophomore from Liverpool,
N.Y.
Now in its 15th year, the Goldwater Scholarship programs honors the
late U.S. senator from Arizona and provides awards of up to $7,500
per year for each recipient to help cover the costs of tuition, fees,
books and room-and-board. This year's 300 Goldwater scholars were
selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,093
students nominated by colleges and universities nationwide. All four
of Cornell's nominees won Goldwater Scholarships this year. In the
past six years, 23 of the university's 24 candidates have been
successful -- a record matched only by Duke University. Since 1992, a
total of 33 Cornell students have won Goldwater Scholarships, and 10
went on to achieve additional honors, such as the Rhodes Scholarship,
Marshall Scholarship, Churchill Scholarship and the Hertz Fellowship.
o Mark Laidre, who is majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology as
well as neurobiology and behavior, graduated from Saratoga Springs
High School in 2000. He has conducted research into pheromone
communication, forager orientation and resource allocation, in
colonies of harvester and carpenter ants, and animal-behavior
research into visual and tactile signal exchanges among mandrills in
zoo habitats.
Laidre has been on the Dean's List each semester since 2001. His
previous awards include a Hughes Scholars Research Grant at Cornell,
where he is a member of the university's Animal Behavior Club and
Anthropology Club.. His ultimate goal, after earning advanced
degrees in behavioral ecology, is to teach and conduct research at an
academic institution or field station.
o Eric Margelefsky, who is majoring in chemical engineering,
graduated from Southview High School in 2002. His undergraduate
research involves the physical properties of poly-elastomer networks,
analyzing the stretching and relaxing behavior of cross-linked
networks of molecules and developing mathematical models of
materials' characteristics.
Previous honors at Cornell include the A.W. Laubengayer Prize in
chemistry, the Spencer Prize for expository writing and the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers' Othmer Academic Excellence Award. A
member of the Phi Sigma Pi and Tau Beta Pi honor societies,
Margelefsky hopes to earn a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and work in
the pharmaceutical industry, developing new processes for the
chemical synthesis of medicines.
o Sara T. Parker, who is majoring in materials science and
engineering, graduated from Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School
in 2000. In her undergraduate research, she helped develop more
efficient organic light-emitting devices in a Cornell-Princeton
University collaboration and, as a member of a nanobiotechnology
research team, worked to create periodic structures on silicon-based
biosensors.
Among previous honors to Parker are the Gregg Memorial Prize in
materials science, GE Faculty for the Future Undergraduate Research
Grant and the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship. An officer in the
Cornell chapters of the Materials Research Society and ASM
International, the metals engineering society, she hopes to pursue a
career in research and development in industry or to teach and
conduct research at a university.
o Niraj M. Shanbhag, who is majoring in biological sciences,
graduated from Liverpool High School in 2001. His undergraduate
research at Cornell involves trehalose, a sugar found in plants, and
its role in plant molecular biology and physiology. In previous
immunological research, he studied the disease, lupus erythamatosus,
in animal models.
He has been awarded a Cornell Presidential Research Scholarship,
National Merit Scholarship, New York State Merit Scholarship and was
a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. A member of the
Biology Student Curriculum Council, as well as the university's
Symphonic Band, Jazz Band and Bhangra Dance Team, Shanbhag would like
to earn a Ph.D. degree and then teach and pursue research in
molecular biology at the university level.
Cornell's Goldwater Scholarship Endorsement Committee members this
year were Barbara Bedford, senior research associate in natural
resources; Donald Farley, professor of electrical engineering;
Douglas Fitchen, professor of physics; and D. Tyler McQuade,
assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology. Information
on Goldwater Scholarships and other student awards is at the Cornell
Career Services Web site:
<http://www.career.cornell.edu/students/grad/fellowships/prestigious.html >.
-30-
The web version of this release may be found at
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/April03/Goldwater_Scholars.03.hrs.html
Cornell University News Service
Surge 3
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-4206
cunews_at_cornell.edu
http://www.news.cornell.edu
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