CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois students Sylvia E, Daniel Feng, Alice Gao, Amelia Korveziroska and Riley Trendler were awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Goldwater, who served 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The program encourages the continued development of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to sophomores and juniors from the U.S. who intend to pursue doctorates. The scholarship provides recipients $7,500 annually towards undergraduate tuition, fees, books or room and board.
Nationally, 438 students were chosen from the 1,353 nominees to receive the $7,500 award. The University of Illinois is one of only eight institutions with five awardees.
“Every year I tell our students applying for the Goldwater Scholarship that with the caliber of our students, securing one of the nomination slots from the University of Illinois is their biggest challenge,” said David Schug, the director of the National and International Scholarships Program at Illinois. “That certainly bore out with all five of our nominees selected for the scholarship — the most in the country.”
Sylvia E is a junior majoring in brain and cognitive science and philosophy. A graduate of Parkway Central High School, she is from Chesterfield, Missouri. She plans to pursue a doctorate in cognitive science/psychology. Her research focuses on understanding early lexical-semantic development by computationally modeling behavioral data from infants and young children. Under the direction of electrical and computer engineering professor Ujjal Kumar Bhowmik, she was part of an undergraduate team that designed a machine learning pipeline to improve handheld object detection in computer vision models. She has worked at the Brown University Language and Thought Lab and is a member of the Learning and Language Lab at Illinois, where she works with models of children’s conceptual development under Dr. Jon A. Willits. This summer, she plans to conduct neural, behavioral and computational studies of infant language learning at the University of British Columbia through the Fulbright-Mitacs Globalink Program.
Junior Daniel Feng is majoring in computer science and plans to pursue his doctorate in computer science with a research specialization in computational biology and biological systems modeling. He is from Irvine, California, where he attended University High School. He has studied computational models of neural recovery at the University of California, Irvine and has worked in Illinois computer science professor Nancy Amato’s Parasol laboratory, investigating the development of pathfinding algorithms. He has also studied algorithmic methods for phylogenetic cancer tumor reconstruction at U. of I. as part of the computer science Summer Research Program. He was the only undergraduate on the computer science team that participated in a $15 million National Science Foundation project exploring the potential of using biological neurons in artificial intelligence.
A junior in materials science and engineering, Alice Gao is from Champaign, Illinois, and attended University Laboratory High School. She plans to pursue a doctorate in materials science to research nanomaterials for biomedical applications and would like to work on diversifying her field. At Illinois, she conducts research in the Leal lab, under the direction of materials science and engineering professor Cecilia Leal, on determining the mechanisms of endosomal escape of lipid nano particles for mRNA delivery. She also has worked with materials science and engineering professor Pinshane Huang’s research group on tunable 2D materials that are used in devices like solar cells and chips. She interned at Argonne National Laboratory, where she worked on a method to mitigate carbon dioxide levels. She participated in a summer research program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She serves as an undergraduate recruiter for materials science and as an engineering learning assistant, teaching an orientation course for incoming materials science students.
Amelia Korveziroska is a junior in mechanical science and engineering and plans to pursue a doctorate in mechanical engineering with a research focus in applied physics relating to space equipment. Originally from Prilep, North Macedonia, she attended Adlai E. Stevenson High School. A transfer student from Illinois State University, she began her research experience there in nanoparticle fabrication. She participated in two NSF-sponsored Research Experiences for Undergraduates: one in solar physics at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics and a second at the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. She is currently studying at Nagoya University in Japan, which has a partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. At Illinois, she works as a teaching assistant in the physics department.
Riley Trendler is a junior majoring in nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering. He attended St. Charles North High School in his hometown of St. Charles, Illinois. He plans to pursue his doctorate in nuclear engineering and conduct fusion energy research, with a goal of developing liquid lithium plasma facing components that help make fusion energy commercially viable. He is engaged in liquid lithium fusion energy research at the university’s Center for Plasma-Material Interactions, under the direction of nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering professor David Ruzic. Over the summer, he interned in the fusion engineering group at Oak Ridge National Lab, where he will return this summer to continue constructing a steady state linear plasma device. He is vice president of the Illinois chapter of the American Nuclear Society and has been building a nuclear fusor for Engineering Open House. He also serves as an engineering learning assistant for the college.