Texas Tech Students Awarded Goldwater Scholarships

Written by: Christy Hammett

Two Texas Tech University students received the nationally competitive Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships.

Nicholas Bergfeld and Kevin McBride were two of the 317 scholars selected for the 2007-2008 academic year. Scholars are chosen on the basis of academic merit from a competitive pool of 1,110 university nominees.

The Goldwater Scholarship covers the costs of tuition and fees up to $7,500 for up to two years for students pursuing careers in mathematics, the sciences or engineering. Many of the scholars have majors in more than one discipline.

Bergfeld, a sophomore Texas Tech biochemistry and psychology major from Lubbock, is a research scholar with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He plans to pursue a doctoral degree in neuroscience, with the eventual goal of leading a research group in the field of biological psychology.

McBride, a sophomore chemical engineering major from Bridgeport, plans to pursue a doctoral degree in either chemical engineering or physics. McBride’s professional goals include research and fabrication of sensors that can detect and destroy potentially environmentally hazardous nanoparticles.

Bergfeld and McBride are members of the Texas Tech Honors College, and they join 28 previous Texas Tech University Goldwater Scholars in their pursuit of academic and research excellence.

Named for the late senator from Arizona, the Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type and award winners have garnered the attention of prestigious post-graduate fellowship programs, such as the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships.

Previous Texas Tech University Goldwater Scholars have gone on to win such internationally competitive fellowships as the Gates Cambridge Scholarship and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

CONTACT: Christina Ashby-Martin, Texas Tech University, Coordinator, National & International Scholarships, christina.ashby-martin@ttu.edu or (806) 742-1828.