Connor Brown ’12 and Julia Litzky ’12 have been named Barry M. Goldwater Scholars for the 2011-12 academic year. They are among 275 scholars from across the U.S. to receive the Goldwater, the premier national undergraduate award in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.
The Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,095 students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. Virtually all recipients intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their degree objective. The one- and two-year scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.
Connor Brown is a chemistry major from Bristol, Vt. A Dean’s List student, he spent 10 weeks last summer conducting research in organic chemistry at Washington State University through a program funded by the National Science Foundation. Under the supervision of Dr. Ming Xian, Brown worked on the development of a biochemical assay to selectively detect and label S-nitrosylated homocysteine residues in proteins. This summer Brown has been invited to work in collaboration with Hamilton professor Nicole Snyder and Dr. Peter Seeberger of the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Berlin on the chemical synthesis of pneumococcal serotype 31. Invasive pneumococcal disease is a leading cause of mortality worldwide.
At Hamilton, Brown is a tutor for general and organic chemistry, biochemistry and mathematics and was a teaching assistant in organic chemistry. He is co-director and a trip leader for Hamilton’s chapter of No More Deaths, a disc jockey for WHCL campus radio and has participated in intramural softball and football.
Brown hopes to obtain a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and then pursue a career in the development of new synthetic methodologies for the synthesis of novel pharmaceutical compounds. He graduated from Mount Abraham Union High School.
Julia Litzky, a neuroscience major and Dean’s List student, spent last summer conducting research in the Brain Tumor Stem Cell Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University where she was research assistant to Dr. Hugo Guerrero-Cazares. Her research aimed to perfect the organotypics methodology as a possible assay for cell migration and proliferation in the brain. She will continue her research there this summer. Litzky also served as research assistant to Hamilton Professor of Biology Herm Lehman, working to pinpoint the location and to quantify levels of the Tyramine bêta hydroxylase-Related protein in drosophila.
Litzky is a Writing Center tutor, an editor of The Spectator, a member and media chair of the Emerson Literary Society, Challah for Hunger Site leader and a member of the Sailing Team.
After Hamilton she intends to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience and M.D. specializing in neurology and conducting research on brain tumor stem cells. She is a graduate of the Park School of Baltimore.
The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established by Public Law 99-661 on November 14, 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry M. 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 premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.
Since its first award in 1989, the Foundation has bestowed more than 6,600 scholarships worth approximately $50 million.
