Maura Cadigan, a junior in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, was honored with a Goldwater Scholarship, while Kendal Ezell, a sophomore in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, received an Honorable Mention Goldwater Scholarship.
Cadigan and Ezell were both honored in recognition of their scholastic achievements and ambitions. The Foundation awarded 252 scholarships from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants from 415 colleges and universities nationwide.
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). To be awarded a Goldwater Scholarship, students must be nominated by a Goldwater faculty representative.
Cadigan is the first Aggie to be selected as a technical consultant for the Stanford US-Russia Forum. She was the mechanical team lead for the Women in Engineering’s VEX robotics team and a teaching assistant for ENGR 112. Cadigan plans to continue her education with a Ph.D. and will pursue a career with NASA or a government research laboratory. On campus, she’s involved with Women in Engineering, the Student Engineers’ Council and Engineering Honors.
“It's a huge honor to be named a Goldwater Scholar,” she said. “It's validation of my work and my plans for the future. It's very encouraging.”
Ezell plans to pursue an M.D. or Ph.D. to perform clinical research on neurotissue degradation and medical device design. Ezell has worked in Dr. Duncan Maitland’s Biomedical Device Laboratory, with Dr. Mark Packard in the Institute for Neuroscience and with biotechnology companies in Germany. On campus, she is involved in Kappa Alpha Theta, Engineering Honors and the Student Engineers’ Council.