Four Yale College students named Goldwater winners for their potential in science

Four Yale College juniors majoring in science, mathematics, or engineering have won 2014-2015 Goldwater Scholarships, which are intended to encourage promising undergraduates to seek careers in related fields.

Four Yale College juniors majoring in science, mathematics, or engineering have won 2014-2015 Goldwater Scholarships, which are intended to encourage promising undergraduates to seek careers in related fields.

Goldwater Scholarship recipients
Goldwater Scholarship recipients (from left to right) Elena Perry, Kevin Zhou, Geoffrey Smith, Joshua Cofsky (Photo, Alaina Pritchard)

Recent Goldwater Scholars have received 80 Rhodes Scholarships, 117 Marshall Awards, 112 Churchill Scholarships, and numerous other major awards, according to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which bestows its namesake scholarships annually.

Named after former U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the one- and two-year scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

The Yale students — who are among 283 winners selected from nearly 1,200 candidates — are Josh Cofsky (Berkeley), Elena Perry (Branford), Geoffrey D. Smith (Pierson), and Kevin Zhou (Berkeley), all Class of 2015. Yale had four winners in 2004 also.

Cofsky, a molecular biophysics & biochemistry major, is currently working in Professor David Schatz’s laboratory, and last spring participated in Scott Strobel’s Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory (REAL) in Ecuador. Cofsky plans to pursue a doctorate in biochemistry.

Perry, an ecology and evolutionary biology major who recently returned from a one-year fellowship in Korea, has been working in Assistant Professor Jason Crawford’s West Campus lab. Perry is looking for new molecules to combat antibiotic resistance. She plans to pursue a doctorate in chemical biology. 

Smith, a mathematics major, has been studying how combinatorics can solve hard problems in algebraic geometry, research that has already produced a published paper. Another paper will be published in the fall about modular forms.

Zhou is a biomedical engineering major who spent two years developing a 3D biopsy visualization processes and is working on an imaging system that can measure 3D velocity information. Zhou’s future plans include graduate school and then go on to design new medical technology.

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