Oregon State University’s National and Global Scholarships Advising office is pleased to announce that five students, three from the College of Agricultural Sciences, have been nominated to represent OSU and compete nationally for the 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Final selection of Goldwater scholarships will be confirmed in spring 2024.
Three College of Agricultural Sciences Nominees

Roberto Ponce Velez is a junior in the College of Agricultural Sciences majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. His current research investigates native fishes facing instability in the drought-prone Goose Lake Basin in Oregon. In his career, Roberto will earn a PhD in Fisheries Biology and become a leading researcher on native fish in the US Pacific Northwest and a science communicator.

Zach Kowash is an Honors junior in the College of Agricultural Sciences majoring in Bioresource Research with minors in Toxicology, Environmental and Occupational Health, and Chemistry. Zach aims to earn an MD and a PhD in Developmental Biology with a pediatric specialty. He will then pursue a career researching the physiologic and neurocognitive developmental effects of exposure to environmental contaminants in children combined with practicing pediatric medicine.

Jose Naranjo Mendez is a junior in the colleges of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, double majoring in Chemical Engineering and Bioresource Research with a minor in Chemistry. His specialty in Bioproducts and Bioenergy lends itself to his research on the impact of additives in the chemical recycling of plastic waste. In his career, Jose will earn a PhD in Chemical Engineering and become a leading researcher on renewable, sustainable energy and the chemical upcycling of plastics.
Two additional OSU student nominees

Madalyn Gragg is an Honors junior in the colleges of Engineering and Science, double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Physics. Her current research in organic electronics and advanced spectroscopy lies at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and engineering. In her career, Madalyn aims to earn a PhD in Chemical Physics and lead an experimental physics and material science lab at a research university while educating the next generation of scientists.

Grace Pettis for the Goldwater scholarship. Grace is a junior transfer student in the college of Engineering majoring in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. In her career, Grace will earn a PhD in Materials Science and conduct energy research at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and engineering, collaborating among disciplines to encourage entrepreneurship and social responsibility.
The OSU Goldwater nomination committee includes faculty from the Colleges of Science and Engineering: Skip Rochefort from Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering; Louis Wojcinski from Chemistry; Kari Van Zee, Alysia Mortimer, and Juan Vanegas from Biochemistry and Biophysics; and David Hendrix from Biochemistry and Biophysics and Computer Science. Student advising and nominations were coordinated by LeAnn Adam and Becca Otto in the OSU Office of National and Global Scholarships Advising.
Established by Congress in 1986, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation operates an educational scholarship program designed to provide opportunities for outstanding U.S. students with excellent academic records and demonstrated interest in, and potential for, research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship serves as a living memorial to honor the lifetime work of Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate. For more information about the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, visit https://goldwater.scholarsapply.org/
The Goldwater Scholarship is administered at OSU through the National and Global Scholarships Advising Office. For more information about applying for the Goldwater Scholarship or other national and international scholarships, please contact [email protected] and visit: http://topscholars.oregonstate.edu