Four Penn students have been selected as Goldwater Scholars by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which provides scholarships of as much as $7,500 to undergraduate students interested in research careers in the natural sciences, math or engineering.

They are among 496 recipients chosen this year from across the US from out of more than 5,000 applicants. To date, 43 Penn students have received the award since Congress established the foundation in 1986 to honor the work of US Sen. Barry Goldwater.

The 2019 Goldwater Scholars from Penn are:

Chloe Cho, a sophomore from Moorestown, New Jersey, who is majoring in bioengineering in SEAS. She works at the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics on engineering novel treatments for retinal degenerative disorders. Ms. Cho intends to pursue a MD/PhD in bioengineering.

Lauren Duhamel, a junior from Groton, Massachusetts, is majoring in chemical and biomolecular engineering in SEAS. She has worked in the labs of Joshua Klein and Ophir Shalem, and she recently published as first author the results of her multi-year research project on high purity charge variant samples of monoclonal antibody drug therapies at Bristol-Meyers Squibb. She intends to pursue a PhD and then teach and conduct research.

Srinivas Mandyam, a junior from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, is majoring in math, physics and biophysics, and also pursuing a master’s in physics in SAS. He works on graphene field effect transistors and the growth of two-dimensional materials in the lab of Charlie Johnson. The recipient of the Vagelos Challenge Award, Mr. Mandyam intends to pursue a PhD in physics.

Abigail Poteshman, a junior from New York City, is majoring in math and physics in SAS. Working in Danielle Basset’s Complex Systems Lab, she has published two first-author papers on network science. She is a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar. She has participated in the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program and intends to become a computational condensed matter physicist.