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Moriana Haj received an honorable mention from the Goldwater Scholarship Program this year. Haj is a University Honors Program junior chemistry major in the College of Science and Engineering. Originally from Edina, Minnesota where she attended Edina High School, Haj plans to pursue a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. She aspires to participate in interdisciplinary research efforts to solve major scientific problems in areas ranging from drug discovery to sustainable materials development. As an undergraduate researcher in Professor Thomas Hoye’s laboratory, Haj has been studying various aspects of a newly uncovered chemical—the hexadehydro-Diels-Alder (HDDA) reaction, a variation on a classic transformation that is fundamental to the field of organic chemistry. Haj takes inspiration from the creativity and open-mindedness that led Hoye’s research group to explore the HDDA reaction, which they first observed while attempting a routine reaction in an unrelated study. She is a National Merit Scholar and the recipient of several scholarships to support her research activities. As the recipient of the Robert C. Brasted Fellowship, she is completing a teaching apprenticeship with Professor Jane Wissinger, for which she is developing a new experiment for the organic chemistry laboratory course.
University Honors Program student Rachel Soble is a 2014 Goldwater Scholar. Rachel is in her third year of a five-year undergraduate career pursuing bachelor’s of science degrees in genetics, cell biology & development (College of Biological Sciences) and computer science (College of Science and Engineering). She plans to earn a doctorate in computational biology and to develop new computational frameworks for investigating microbial ecology and physiology. Soble is a National Merit Scholar and a Robert C. Byrd Scholar, and holds a prestigious American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Research Fellowship this year. As an Amgen Scholar in summer 2013 she conducted microbiology research at Columbia University. At the University of Minnesota, Soble conducts research in Professor Jeffrey Gralnick’s microbiology laboratory. Her project is the application of a new genetic technique called Tn-seq to study interdependence in a synthetic cooperative community of bacteria, with the goal of contributing to the scientific understanding of microbial cooperation. She has also worked on computational biology projects in Professor Chad Myers’s research group. Soble is co-author of a forthcoming article and has presented her research at national conferences. She is involved in many campus activities including Teaching SMART, a student group that teaches lessons in local schools to spark children’s interest in science. Soble grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and attended Brookfield High School in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Robin Lee also received honorable mention. A native of Bel Air, Maryland and a graduate of Bel Air High School, Lee lived in South Korea for many years before coming to the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities to pursue his interest in cancer genetics. Now a junior in the University Honors Program, he is completing an undergraduate degree in genetics, cell biology & development in the College of Biological Sciences. Lee has conducted research with Professors Craig Eckfeldt and David Largaespada on the pathways of growth in NRAS, a gene frequently mutated that causes abnormal growth in acute myeloid leukemia. Over several summers in high school and college, he has engaged in neurobiology, genetics, and cancer research at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. His first-authored articles have been published in Gene and the Journal of Genetic Medicine, and he has received an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program grant and other awards to support his research and travel to present at conferences. Lee plans to pursue a doctorate in genetics and hopes one day to establish an international cancer genetics research consortium.
The prestigious Goldwater Scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research-oriented careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The scholarships provide up to $7,500 per year for up to two years of undergraduate study.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate. This year, 283 scholars were selected nationwide from a field of more than 1,166 students who were nominated by their colleges and universities. Each institution many nominate up to four students.
A total of 55 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities undergraduates have been Goldwater Scholars since the program’s inception in 1986. UMTC students who are interested in applying for the scholarship in the future may consult the Office for National and International Scholarships by visiting www.honors.umn.edu/scholarships.
For more information on the Goldwater Scholarship, visit www.act.org/goldwater.