Junior Shoshana Das wins Goldwater scholarship

Shoshana Das
Das

Shoshana Das ’16 has been awarded a Goldwater scholarship, the premier undergraduate award of its type in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Das, a student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) with a dual major in biological engineering and biological sciences, plans to continue to a doctorate in biomedical or chemical engineering and conduct research in the biomedical or biotech industries, government research sector or a research hospital.

Das was recommended for the scholarship by Jonathan Butcher, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Ashim Datta, professor and chair of the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering.

Joshua Kaste ’16, a plant sciences major in CALS, and Nimit Sohoni ’16, majoring in chemistry and chemical biology, computer science and mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences, received honorable mentions. Both intend to pursue Ph.D. degrees. Kaste, recommended by William Fry, professor of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology, looks forward to an academic career. Sohoni, recommended by David Bindel, assistant professor of computer science, and Gerald Feigenson, professor of molecular biology and genetics, plans a research career in the biotech industry.

The Goldwater Scholarship Program, honoring former Arizona Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year. In the last 10 years, 24 Cornell undergraduates have been named Goldwater scholars and nine have received honorable mention.

This year’s 260 Goldwater scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,206 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated by colleges and universities nationwide.

Students in mathematics, engineering and the sciences who will be sophomores or juniors may be eligible to apply this fall and should contact Beth Fiori, fellowship coordinator, at btf1@cornell.edu or 255-6923. Faculty members are encouraged to recommend students to Fiori.

Cornell’s Goldwater Scholarship Endorsement Committee this year consisted of Fiori, Itai Cohen, associate professor of physics; William Crepet, professor and chair of plant biology; Tim Healey, professor of mathematics; Laurel Southard, senior lecturer and chair of plant biology and director of undergraduate research; and Mariana Wolfner, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow.

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Joe Schwartz