The Office of Student Research at Illinois State University announced two students, Katherine Helmink and Sage Lauper-Cook, have been named 2023 Goldwater Scholars.
Appears InThe Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation provides opportunities for outstanding U.S. students with excellent academic records and demonstrated potential for research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Only 413 students nationwide received the 2023 scholarship.
Helmink and Lauper-Cook are both juniors at Illinois State, majoring in chemistry. They work on separate projects in the laboratory of Dr. Lisa Szczepura, University Professor in the Department of Chemistry. “This is the most prestigious national undergraduate scholarship chemistry students can receive. Sage and Katie are truly deserving,” said Szczepura, who noted they have demonstrated exceptional technical and analytical skills in their research. “I am confident they have the potential to help solve our nation’s challenging scientific problems.”
Helmink of Breese, Illinois, focuses research on the organometallic chemistry of inorganic compounds, specifically the novel rhenium selenide cluster complexes.
Lauper-Cook of Mt. Zion is currently investigating the spectroscopy of transition metal based inorganic compounds. Last summer, she was a member of the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates with work that involved inorganic and analytical chemistry, with an environmental focus.
Helmink and Lauper-Cook say they plan to work toward doctoral degrees.
From an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, 1,267 natural science, engineering and mathematics students were nominated by 427 academic institutions to compete for the 2023 Goldwater scholarships.
Goldwater Scholars have gone on to win an impressive array of prestigious post-graduate fellowships, among which are the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Rhodes Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship, Churchill Scholarship, Hertz Fellowship, DOE Computation Science Graduate Fellowship, and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
