Two students earn Goldwater Scholarships
Two USU students, Sarah Mousley and Mitch Dabling, received Goldwater Scholarships – an award recognizing undergraduate accomplishments and research.
Each year, USU selects four student applicants to apply for the scholarship, according to Christie Fox, director of USU’s Honors Program. This year, Dabling and Mousley received the award and two other students, Jordan Rozum and Rachel Ward, received honorable mentions.
“First, there’s an internal round of competition,” Mousley said. “Every university can pick four nominees. So, before you can compete at the national competition, you are competing in the internal round.”
According to the Goldwater Scholarship website, “The purpose of the foundation is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.”
“I’m amazed, because it’s not really a common award for engineers,” Dabling said. “I was the only civil engineer that was awarded.”
The Board of Trustees of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 282 scholarships for the 2012-2013 academic school year, according to the scholarship’s website.
“The money is nice – it’s up to $7,500 for two years – but it’s more about status and prestige and about an external, national organization recognizing you,” Fox said.
“I started looking into the Goldwater last May. I really started doing the application in August and working on the essay,” Dabling said. “I probably did about 10 revisions on my essay before I submitted it.”
Fox said the application process starts during the fall semester. Students have to submit an application form, a transcript, three letters of recommendation and an essay, which is written as a scholarly journal article. Fox said she thinks the essay is the most important part.
“Students who wish to apply must submit a finalized application by Nov. 30,” Fox said. “Most of the students work on their applications for six to eight weeks before we see them, and we get between seven and 11 applications. The reason that we get so many applications for the four spots is because the faculty in physics, biology, chemistry and agriculture, who are actively helping their students apply for this prestigious award.”
Mousley said the final product sent in is “very polished.”
“It’s a really intense process,” Fox said. “Students apply draft, after draft, after draft. David Peak in the physics department does a Goldwater boot camp, which begins in October.”
Students work with Peak, their mentor and Fox on their applications. Fox said each student writes about seven drafts of their essay.
Final applications are submitted in January, and the awardees are announced in mid-
March.
Dabling said he found out he was a Goldwater Scholar through Fox, and then a few weeks later he received a packet and certificate. He was then presented with an award during Research Week at the university.
Fox said undergraduate research is the number one criterion for a Goldwater Scholar, because the purpose of the award is to identify future researchers and help them succeed.
Mousley said she does pure mathematics research, but when applying for a national scholarship, she had to show why her research is useful.
“One of the challenges as a pure mathematician is not knowing what your research is going to be applied to,” Mousley said. “In the long run, it might be applied to something, but in it’s current state, we don’t know. You’re just making some suggestions that are plausible.”
“I do my research in hydraulics and hydraulic structure,” said Dabling, who works in the water lab with Blake Tullis. “We studied together on dam rehabilitation – like cost-effective ways to rehabilitate a dam that is at risk of flooding.”
Dabling and Mousley are both part of the Undergraduate Research Fellow program.
“It’s something that goes with you for all four years,” Dabling said. “Students that received the presidential or dean’s scholarships are invited to come up and interview to be a research fellow. It comes with an annual stipend of $1,000, which its nice. It provides an opportunity to get involved in professors’ labs. They pick about 30 students every year, and it goes with them for all four years.”
Mousley said she didn’t really know what math research was when she came to college, but she always knew she wanted to study math. She started her research when she was a freshman.
She said she thinks the Undergraduate Research Fellow program is helpful because it gets students involved from day one.
“We’re very proud of the students and the work they’ve been able to accomplish and of USU’s track record in winning the Goldwater Scholarship,” Fox said. “It really shows how strong our students are, how dedicated we are to creating future scientists, engineers and mathematicians – not to mention humanists, poets and great thinkers. It’s just one leg of the stool of this great education that we provide to our students.”
– cnmoffitt413@gmail.com