Two students from LaGuardia Community College/CUNY were recently chosen as 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship recipients.
Allen Chien, a Computer Science major originally from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, says, “Being named a Goldwater Scholar means that my efforts and dedication to conducting research have paid off and are recognized by the community.”
Allen credits his professors, Dr. Praveenkumar Khethavath, Professor and Director of the Computer Science Program; Professor Midas Tsai; and Professor Maria Entezari, with being extremely helpful and providing valuable guidance.
“I think LaGuardia was a good starting point for me,” said Allen, who just transferred out of the school and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Amena Shamia is a Life Sciences student who plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology. She wishes to conduct research and work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her supervisors are Dr. Claudette P. Davis, Associate Professor of Natural Sciences, Dr. Tonya Hendrix, and Dr. Xueling Wu.
In 1986, Congress established the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation to honor Senator Barry Goldwater’s 56-year service as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the US Senate.
Allen and Amena were among the 508 scholars chosen for 2024. From an expected pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, 446 academic institutions nominated 1,353 scientific, engineering, and mathematics students to compete for Goldwater scholarships in 2024.
According to the Goldwater Foundation, 188 of the Scholars are males, 236 are women, and nearly all plan to pursue a Ph.D. as their highest degree ambition. Fifty-seven Scholars plan to pursue research jobs in mathematics and computer science, 237 in the sciences, 80 in medicine, and 64 in engineering and materials. A growing number of Goldwater Scholars have published their research in prestigious professional journals and presented their findings at professional society conferences.
Goldwater Scholars have gone on to win numerous prestigious awards, including National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellows, NSF Graduate Research Fellows, Hertz Fellows, DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellows, Astronaut Scholars, Churchill Scholars, Marshall Scholars, and Rhodes Scholars.