Two Buckeye engineers named 2016 Goldwater Scholars
Three Buckeye engineering honors students have been recognized by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, the nation’s most prestigious award for undergraduate researchers in science, math and engineering. Juniors Lagnajit (Lucky) Pattanaik and Ross Vasko were named 2016 Goldwater Scholars. Engineering physics major Kaeli Hughes has been presented with an Honorable Mention.
The scholars receive an award to cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500.
Lagnajit (Lucky) Pattanaik, a junior honors student in chemical engineering, is investigating the catalytic conversion of biomass with Nicholas Brunelli, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. His current project on the conversion of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural was recognized with a second place finish in the 2016 Denman Undergraduate Research Forum.
“We definitely put a lot of work into our research and I’m really proud that’s it’s been recognized on the national scale,” Pattanaik said. “It means a lot for my family as well. I know my parents have worked really hard and they deserve an award like this too.”
Pattanaik credits Brunelli, his faculty advisor, with instilling in him the work ethic and skills to succeed in research.
“I think it’s really important that Dr. Brunelli treats all of the undergrads pretty much like grad students. We each get our own projects and we get to choose what we want to do, which has taught me what it would be like to be a grad student,” Pattanaik said. “That especially has helped me progress in my research endeavors and has helped me solidify what I want to do in the future.”
In addition, Pattanaik’s previous research with Materials Science and Engineering Professor John Lannutti on the mechanical integrity of electrospun nanofibers was published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. Pattanaik volunteers with Wonders of Our World STEM outreach, Bharatiya Temple and the Engineering Hometown Ambassadors program. After obtaining a PhD in chemical engineering, he plans a career as a university professor improving heterogeneous catalytic methods for sustainable biomass conversion.
Since the award's inception in 1986, Ohio State has produced 52 Goldwater Scholars; forty-two of the university’s last 44 nominees have been recognized as a scholar or honorable mention.
Ross Vasko, a junior honors student in computer science and engineering, conducts research on flow field visualization with Rephael Wenger, associate professor of computer science and engineering. His work with Wenger and Han-Wei Shen, professor of computer science and engineering, has been accepted for presentation at this summer’s EuroVis conference in the Netherlands. In addition, he spent the summer of 2015 conducting research with Franz Quint at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences through the DAAD RISE program. Their work on real-time depth estimation of plenoptic cameras was published in Advances in Visual Computing.
“This award means a lot because it’s the culmination of my efforts and all the work I’ve put in since I was a freshman,” said Vasko. “It’s been a really great experience to be able to challenge myself and work with my professor on some of these research projects since I was a freshman. I like being able to work on the types of computer science and mathematics problems that come up in my research.”
Vasko has received the Shurtz Award for excellence in first-year mathematics, the College of Engineering Undergraduate Research Scholarship, and the Computer Science and Engineering Undergraduate Research Award. After receiving a PhD in computer science, he plans to teach and conduct research on geometric algorithms as a professor.
Nationwide, 252 scholarships were awarded to sophomores and juniors on the basis of academic merit from a field of more than 1,150 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by colleges and universities. An additional 256 Honorable Mentions were also awarded. Each institution may only nominate four students for consideration.
Kaeli Hughes, a junior honors student in engineering physics, researches ultra-high energy neutrinos through a radio signature in Antarctic ice with Amy Connolly, associate professor of physics. Connolly was herself a Goldwater Scholar, making them Ohio State’s first faculty-student research pair to both be recognized by the Goldwater program. As part of the international ANITA collaboration, Hughes works on automated monitoring tools for neutrino simulations. She has been awarded a Physics Summer Research Scholarship, the Physics Smith Sophomore Award and the Physics Helen Cowan Book Award. She is also a recipient of the Valentino Scholarship. Hughes plans to pursue a PhD in applied physics and a research career in nanoscience or biophysics with applications for cancer detection.
A complete list of Goldwater Scholars and Honorable Mentions, arranged by state of residence, can be found on the Goldwater website.
Applications for Ohio State’s Goldwater nomination will be due in mid-November 2016. Prospective applicants should contact the Undergraduate Fellowship Office and plan to attend an info session in early fall semester.
