SU Students Earn Goldwater Honorable Mentions

SALISBURY, MD---According to the Barry Goldwater Foundation, it offers the “most prestigious undergraduate scholarship in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering in America.”

Two Salisbury University juniors - Lauren DeLong and Amanda Rocker – recently received Honorable Mentions for the award. 
Goldwater Scholars are selected based on academic merit; this year there were some 1,280 student nominees.

“An Honorable Mention for the Goldwater is a wonderful achievement,” said Dr. Kristen Walton, director of SU’s Nationally Competitive Fellowships Office. “Amanda and Lauren were recognized for their superior research skills and future plans. They and their mentors should be very proud.”

DeLong is a biology major and chemistry and mathematics minor from Laurel, MD. This summer, she will be working on a project related to cardiovascular disease at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University through Germany’s Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program. Her mentors have been Drs. Jennifer Nyland and Les Erickson of the Biological Sciences Department, as well as Dr. Edward Lakatta at the National Institutes of Health, where she interned.  

Rocker is a biology major and psychology minor from Edgewater, MD. For three years, she has conducted neuroscience research in a zebrafish lab run by her mentor, Dr. Jessica Clark of the Biological Sciences Department. This summer, as a recipient of SU’s Guerrieri Undergraduate Research Program Award, she will be studying the effects of hyperglycemia on the optic nerve.

Both students also are Undergraduate Research Fellows at SU. 

Two SU alumni previously received Goldwater Honorable Mentions as students:  Hannah Ennerfelt ’17 and Tener Jenkins ’16.

SU students or alumni who are interested in applying for national fellowships may contact Walton at kpwalton@salisbury.edu for assistance.  For more information, visit www.salisbury.edu/nationalfellowships.