Wesleyan’s claim to be top in science research has been further confirmed by the achievements of Emily Jacobs-Palmer ’06 and Rob Judson ’05, who won Goldwater scholarships this year. This national scholarship, in honor of Senator Barry M. Goldwater, provides funding for students who wish to pursue careers in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering and conduct research in their area of interest.
Three hundred and ten winners nationwide receive up to $7,500 per year for up to two years, for a total of $15,000.
The MB&B department nominated Jacobs-Palmer and Judson, who are both MB&B majors. To apply, nominees had to submit a proposal for a line of research in their areas of interest.
“I work with Dr. Manju Hingorani and I do research in her lab. The research that I proposed is a crossover of Dr. Hingorani’s work with Dr. Don Oliver’s, the chair of the MB&B department here at Wesleyan,” Jacobs-Palmer said. “I proposed the idea to apply Dr. Hingorani’s research in pre-steady state kinetics on a bacterial protein that Dr. Oliver is researching. The result will hopefully help us gain enough knowledge on the protein to characterize it, potentially resulting on its broad application towards anti biotic production.”
Judson, who is currently at Georgetown University as a visiting student, is conducting research on Hepatitis D virus.
“It’s not a very well studied virus and it’s unique in the way it works. My proposal was on the ideas for future research for Hepatitis D,” Judson said. “Hepatitis D is a type of natural parasite of Hepatitis B. I’ve been conducting preliminary experiments to explore the question if we can use Hepatitis D as the novel treatment for Hepatitis B.”
Both students felt that winning the scholarship has improved their confidence in conducting further research in the sciences.
“I was incredibly excited. It’s a honor to receive the scholarship. [Not only does it] boost my confidence but it also seems to secure my future as a scientist: before this it only seemed like a good idea for me. The fact that my idea to use a virus for the treatment of another virus wasn’t rejected was absolutely wonderful,” Judson said.
“The scholarship is a pretty big deal; writing the application was almost similar to writing a grant proposal. You also have to be nominated by your university and previous winners have gone on to win fellowships,” Jacobs-Palmer said. “I feel like I’ve passed a preliminary test, receiving both money and prestige. It’s also something I can put it on my resume if I continue to grad school.”
Both have their sight set on the future.
“[Currently] my future plans are to continue HDV [Hepatitis D Virus] research for a few years. There’s a good possibility that I might continue school and eventually get my PhD in microbiology or immunology,” Judson said. “I’m going to continue research for the next two summers at Wesleyan as part of the Hughes Program. I don’t know about my plans after Wes. I’ve considered doing medical school, becoming a veterinarian, teaching or going to graduate for research.”
As they consider future plans and research possibilities, Jacobs-Palmer and Judson give credit to Wesleyan’s science program for offered them essential opportunities.
“Wesleyan science in general is often underrated. The opportunity to do undergraduate research at Wesleyan is great. There aren’t many schools that can claim to have the amount of money that Wesleyan receives, while at the same time boosting small labs that offer tons of personal attention. As a science student, I wouldn’t have gotten that kind of attention had I attended a big university,” Jacobs-Palmer said.
Judson agreed.
“Wesleyan has an incredible science program. The only reason I came to Georgetown was because they have a lab that specializes in what I’m researching. Especially now that I’m able to compare Georgetown to Wesleyan, Wesleyan has a top-notch program. I came to Georgetown medical school as a visiting student, but undergrad students at Georgetown won’t have the same opportunity that we have,” he said.
“Only at Wesleyan can I get a liberal arts education that offers hard core, cutting edge research experience while being surrounded by a diverse student body who gives variety to my experience,” Jacobs-Palmer said.
More information on the scholarship is available at http://www.act.org/goldwater/.
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