Katsevich '14, Sinha '13 awarded Goldwater

The award is given to students who plan to pursue careers in science, mathematics and engineering.

Each school is allowed to nominate up to four students to receive the award. The other two Princeton nominees, Michael Joseph Pretko ’13 and Kaitlin Stouffer ’13, were awarded honorable mentions. Likewise, Harvard had two winners and two honorable mentions. Three students at Yale earned the award, and one student received an honorable mention.

As Goldwater Scholars, Sinha and Katsevich are eligible for a scholarship of up to $7,500 per year toward defraying the costs of tuition, room, board and other fees during the 2012-13 academic year. In addition, as a current sophomore, Katsevich will be eligible for another $7,500 award during the 2013-14 academic year.

Sinha, a mechanical and aerospace engineering concentrator from Ivyland, Pa., said he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and eventually enter research and development. This past fall, he worked in the office of mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Howard Stone, where he researched “modeling the effective diffusivity in a particle in a colloidal suspension,” Sinha explained.

Roseanna Zia, a postdoctoral fellow in mechanical and aerospace engineering who worked with Sinha in Stone’s office, said that she was not surprised that he won the award.

“I totally expected him to win that scholarship,” Zia said. “He is one of the most competent undergrads I’ve ever worked with.”

Sinha, on the other hand, was a bit taken aback.

“You don’t ever apply to these things expecting to win,” Sinha noted. “It’s always fortunate to find out that you have won.”

Katsevich, a prospective mathematics major from Oviedo, Fla., also said he plans on pursuing a Ph.D. and hopes to conduct research in applied mathematics and eventually teach at the university level.

“My dad is a math professor, and he started introducing me to math before I can even remember,” Katsevich said. “I have been doing it my whole life, and it was a really natural choice for me.”

Katsevich, who said that he did not have any expectations going in, noted that he was very surprised that he was chosen to be one of the four nominees for the scholarship from the University and even more surprised when he won.

He said that he thought his research experience contributed to his win. Last summer, Katsevich worked with Professor Ge Wang at Virginia Tech on a research project to reduce radiation from CAT scans. He noted that he was involved in a lot of the math and algorithms behind the scenes.

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Most recipients of the award, like Sinha and Katsevich, indicate that they would like to pursue a Ph.D. and conduct some form of research. According to Moloney, the field was first culled by grade point average and then further narrowed to candidates that are interested in academia or research.

The Goldwater Foundation was established by the U.S. Congress in 1986 in honor of Senator Barry Goldwater. To date, it has granted over 6,880 scholarships to undergraduates. The Goldwater Foundation’s administrative officer Lucy Decher noted that this year there were a total of 1,123 applicants, 282 chosen scholars and 190 honorable mentions awarded.

Many Goldwater scholars are chosen for other prestigious scholarships. Since the first Goldwater scholarship awards were given in 1989, the winners have gone on to win 78 Rhodes Scholarships, 112 Marshall Scholarships and 104 Churchill Scholarships.

With the addition of Katsevich and Sinha, 83 University students have now won Goldwater Scholarships.