Quinn Mitchell, an Ohio University junior majoring in mechanical engineering, has been selected as a 2018 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar.
Trustees of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation announced last week that 211 scholarships for the 2018-2019 academic year have been officially awarded to undergraduate sophomores and juniors throughout the United States. The scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.
An additional 281 nominees, including OHIO sophomore Ryan Tumbleson, a double major in electrical engineering and Honors Tutorial College engineering physics, received honorable mentions.
“Ohio University’s supportive faculty and campus-wide academic culture provide students like Quinn and Ryan with unprecedented opportunities for interdisciplinary and experiential learning,” said Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis. “It is such academic access that enables our students to pursue their scholarly passions, and, ultimately, improve the quality of life for individuals across the world.”
This year’s Goldwater Scholars were selected based on academic merit from a field of 1,280 natural sciences, mathematics and engineering students nominated by campus representatives from more than 2,000 colleges and universities nationwide.
Dr. Monica Burdick, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering within Ohio University’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology, served as chair of the OHIO Goldwater Committee and was Mitchell’s mentor throughout the Goldwater Scholarship application process.
“Quinn has been an outstanding undergraduate researcher, his academic performance has been fantastic, and he’s been a lot of fun to work with in the lab,” she said. “He’s going to do tremendous things in grad school working on the modeling aspects of engineering problems.
The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established by Public Law 99-661 on Nov. 14, 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring Sen. Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields.
Since its first award in 1989, the Foundation has as of 2018 bestowed 8,132 scholarships worth approximately $65 million.