Audrey-Rips Goodwin and Brandon Nguyen Nominated for 2023 Goldwater Scholarship
LAWRENCE — Five University of Kansas students who have been actively involved in undergraduate research during their university careers are competing for Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, regarded as the premier undergraduate award to encourage excellence in science, engineering and mathematics.
The students’ applications are coordinated by the Office of Fellowships in Academic Success.
KU’s 2023 nominees:
- Sivani Badrivenkata, junior in pharmacy
- Thresa Kelly, a junior in engineering physics – digital electronic systems with a minor in astronomy
- Brandon Nguyen, a sophomore in chemistry and with a minor in mathematics
- Audrey-Rips Goodwin, a junior in chemistry and mathematics with a minor in psychology
- Kate Wienke, a junior in physics.
Seventy-six KU students have received Goldwater scholarships since they first were awarded in 1989. Congress established the program in 1986 in tribute to the retired U.S. senator from Arizona and to ensure a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
The Goldwater Foundation trustees will announce the 2023 winners in late March. The scholarships cover eligible expenses for undergraduate tuition, fees, books and room and board, up to $7,500 annually. Each year the trustees award approximately 450 scholarships.
Only sophomore- and junior-level students with outstanding academic records, significant research experience and high potential for careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering are eligible for nomination. Nominees submitted applications that included essays related to their career goals and research experience and three faculty recommendations. Students interested in applying next year should contact the Office of Fellowships via email.
Brandon Nguyen, from Liberal, is the son of Joe and Nguyen Nguyen and a graduate of Liberal High School. Nguyen is majoring in chemistry and minoring in mathematics. He plans to pursue a doctorate in chemistry and conduct research in inorganic or organic chemistry and teach at a university. As a freshman, Nguyen joined Timothy Jackson’s research lab, where he measured the reactivity of manganese(III)-hydroxo complexes with phenols. Through this research experience, he performed kinetic studies on an inorganic complex by analyzing the change in absorbance in a reaction and determined the rate of the reaction through kinetics. He presented a poster presentation on this research at the American Chemical Society Midwest Regional Meeting in 2022. Nguyen also serves as the development chair of KU’s Chemistry Club and is the recipient of the Drs. Bijan and Mary Taylor Amini Scholarship for demonstrating exceptionality as a chemistry student, a KU Center for Undergraduate Research Travel Award, Bricker ChemScholars Program Award for academic and research achievement and an Honors Opportunity Award.
Audrey Rips-Goodwin, from Overland Park, is the daughter of Cheryl Rips and Stanley Goodwin and a graduate of Blue Valley Southwest High School. She is majoring in mathematics and chemistry and minoring in psychology with plans to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience and conduct research in neuroscience/neuroeconomics of addictions, eating disorders and obesity. In 2021, Rips-Goodwin contributed to a large series of studies examining how age-related increases in Phosphodiesterase 11A4 contribute to age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease with Michy Kelly at the University of South Carolina. Rips-Goodwin is a co-author of a paper based on this research which is currently in review. In 2022, after transferring to KU, she joined Tera Fazzino’s lab and determined the accuracy of reported energy content of hyper-palatable foods combining her research interests in both chemistry and psychology and leading to two presentations. In 2022, she was named a Kansas Idea Network for Biomedical Research Excellence program scholar to conduct independent research. Rips-Goodwin is also a student ambassador for the KU College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, a Green Scholar for her sustainability efforts, a Bricker ChemScholar and a Frances H. Gayetta Lensor Scholarship recipient awarded to an exceptional female student majoring in chemistry. Outside of research and academics, she serves as a weekend volunteer at Children’s Mercy Hospital.