Four students win Goldwater Scholarship

Four students at Washington University in St. Louis have received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award that honors students who conduct research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

The winners, all juniors, are:

  • Neha Damaraju, who is studying biomedical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering. Damaraju plans to study genetics and precision medicine and serves as a research assistant in the DiAntonio lab at the School of Medicine. 
  • Sabrina Hu, who is studying chemistry and history in Arts & Sciences. Hu plans to develop technologies to create renewable energy sources and is a researcher in the Tolman Group laboratory in the Department of Chemistry. She also serves as the carbon neutrality intern in the Office of Sustainability. 
  • Ephraim Oyetunji, who is studying biology, the neuroscience track, in Arts & Sciences. Oyetunji plans to conduct translational research on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and frontotemporal dementia and works in the Miller lab at the School of Medicine.
  • Madhav Subramanian, who is studying biology in Arts & Sciences. Subramanian, a Florence Moog Scholar, plans to study cancer biology with a focus on tumor immunology and is a research assistant in the Choi lab at the School of Medicine. 

In all, 413 students were selected from a field of some 5,000 candidates. The award was established by Congress in 1986 to honor the legacy of U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater.