Goldwater Scholarships for 2023-24

As the result of an ongoing partnership with the Department of Defense's National Defense Education Programs (NDEP), Dr. John Yopp, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, announced that the Trustees of the Goldwater Board have again been able to increase the number of Goldwater scholarships awarded for the 2023-2024 academic year to 413 college students from across the US. Two of them are physics & astronomy majors at the U.

A sophomore, Eliza Diggins participated as a freshman in the Science Research Initiative program, sponsored by the College of Science. "Math and physics have both had a special place in my heart for most of my life. Even back in elementary school, math and science always held my attention more than other subjects. I began to actively study physics in middle school and never looked back."

Following graduation, she hopes to pursue a PhD in theoretical astrophysics to use innovative computational and analytical techniques to better understand the dynamical processes at play on all scales of the cosmos.

An honors student with a triple major, Audrey Glende is currently researching a crystal and mapping its electrical and magnetic properties at extreme conditions. The crystal (EuCd2P2) has been labeled as a superconductive candidate among other characteristics. She is hoping to complete a PhD in physics and eventually share her knowledge through teaching at the college level.

Among many influential family members in her life, she says, "I probably see myself most in my dad and know that it is very much so because of him that I have been comfortably hand-held into my passion for STEM in a way many people aren’t." <