Honors Scholars GOLDWATER SCHOLARS RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE IN UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
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UDY GENSHAFT HONORS COLLEGE SENIORS, Kelli Ann Lynch and Alexander Mercier, were named 2021 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars in recognition of their cutting-edge research, chosen out of nearly 1,300 applicants nationally. The Goldwater Scholarships, instituted in 1986 in honor of former U. S. Senator and presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, is considered the nation’s most prestigious award for excellence in STEM education. Alums of the scholarship include Katie Bouman who made history recently as part of the Event Horizon Telescope which imaged the first shadow of a black hole. Lynch is from Melbourne, Florida. She is majoring in physics and has spent three years researching with USF professor and computational physicist Inna Ponomareva. “We study the evolving properties of ferroelectrics (materials that exhibit spontaneous polarization, even without an electronic field present),” Lynch says. “When these materials are coupled with other mechanisms, such as mechanical stress or electric fields, it allows us to use them for ultrafast switching, vastly
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I met with Dr. Sayandeb Basu, director of ONS, before I even started here as a student. Seeing his, and his staff’s dedication to student success was the tipping point that helped me decide to enroll here.” – Alexander Mercier, 2021 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar
speeding up the operations of a computer, for example.” Lynch’s interest has been in bridging practical applications and theory, and her work on ferroelectrics has led to two publications and several presentations in national conferences. Her interests took a turn toward biophysics when she was selected for a National Science Foundation research experience for undergraduates (REU) at Lehigh University. “We analyzed the mechanics of protein folding,” Lynch said.
“There are a number of diseases affected by malfunctions of protein folding and by better understanding the underlying physical processes we can combat those diseases.” She further consolidated her interests in biophysics at a second REU at the University of Notre Dame in 2021 where she studied computer models of evolutionary mechanisms that may have implications for cancer progression. Mercier is a dual major in microbiology and pure mathematics with a minor in Russian. As a dual enrollment student, he completed an associate’s degree in mathematics at St. Petersburg College at the same time he finished high school. At the time, he was debating between enrolling at USF or MIT, but scholarships and a discussion with USF’s Office of National Scholarships (ONS) helped him decide. “I met with Dr. Sayandeb Basu, director of ONS, before I even started here as a student,” says Mercier. “Seeing his, and his staff’s, dedication to student success was the tipping point that helped me decide to enroll here.” Basu introduced Mercier to USF ecologist and quantitative biologist Dr. Andrew Kramer and the two studied the spread of a bacterial infection in little brown bats. Later a pivotal research experience at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) in New Mexico helped bolster Mercier’s mathematical and computational training in network epidemiology. He worked with Dr. Cristopher Moore of SFI, and later Dr. Samuel Scarpino of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Institute, on human mobility networks and disease spread. This research culminated in an article currently under review in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. He has presented this work at several national conferences, and was inducted to the national research honor society Sigma Xi. Upon graduation from USF both Lynch and Mercier will pursue graduate study in their fields.
Lynch
- Dr. Sayandeb Basu and Amy Harroun
JUDY GENSHAFT HONORS COLLEGE 47
