A Great Starting Five
Last year, LSU was proud to celebrate one of its students winning the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and another winning the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, both prestigious awards. This year, five students have been honored – Cynthia “CC” Dubois with the Truman Scholarship; Katherine Faust, Jacquelyn Zimmerman, and Nickolas VanMeter with the Goldwater Scholarship; and Tam Nguyen with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship.
Naturally, emotions ran high when the students learned of their awards, ranging from shock and surprise to jumping and screaming. Even the steeliest academic can become giddy it would seem.
Truman Scholar
Dubois marks the third Truman Scholar for LSU in the last four years, following previous winners Allen Richey and Jacob Landry. Cheered on and supported by Professors Kevin Mulcahy and Drew Lamonica Arms, Dubois followed a piece of advice she had once received that said “If you want to get something you’ve never got, you have to do something you’ve never done.”
That advice fueled her pursuit of the Truman Scholarship and carries over to her future plans for a career in public service. After graduating from LSU, Dubois plans to study law and public policy in relation to biotechnological development at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. And as one might expect, Dubois’ future is further mapped out, as she plans on attending Stanford Law School and enrolling in their Law, Science, and Technology program. After that, she has her sights set on a career in the Foreign Agricultural Service – just your basic post-college, entry-level career, right?
“’ You are not here to merely make a living,’” Dubois said. “’You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.’ It is with this axiom, so eloquently stated by Woodrow Wilson, that I wholeheartedly agree, and it is through my time here at LSU that I have begun to understand its significance.”
Goldwater Scholars
Katherine Faust learned of her Goldwater Scholarship by checking the organization’s Web site, where the winners are posted long before they are actually notified. At first she did not believe what she saw. Then she started shaking and in her words, she has not stopped smiling since.
Not only does the award mean great things for Faust’s future endeavors, but it was also an honor to have her research recognized, she said, on a national level. Faust plans to pursue her Ph.D. with a focus in the evolution, ecology, and systematics of birds. Even though that work is some years away, she feels she has already received a head start.
“ My time at LSU has been the best of my life,” Faust said. “I’ve met incredible people and made some really great friends. I’ve had more fun than I ever had before. I’ve had classes that I’ve actually looked forward to attending, and I’ve been able to really get into a field that I’m interested in. I considered going to other out-of-state universities, but LSU offered me more than any of them ever could have.”
Nickolas VanMeter echoed Faust’s sentiments, saying that the Goldwater Scholarship has opened up many doors for his future, giving him a competitive edge on a national level to compete for research programs and jobs in the future.
VanMeter plans on attending graduate school in physics and working towards a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Beyond that, he admits the future is “fuzzy,” but a career in quantum information research is the plan.
“ I see this award as a testament to the education I’ve received at LSU, the professors who’ve helped and pushed me, and my own genuine interest in scientific research,” VanMeter said. “I’m proud that LSU and I were honored with the Goldwater Scholarship.”
Like VanMeter, Jacquelyn Zimmerman felt that receiving the Goldwater would make her a stronger candidate for future applications, opening doors for her as a young professional. She already has much of experience she feels is important for the next level, as she has worked closely with Professor Mark Batzer in his Human Genomics lab and been listed as a co-author on a paper related to primate identification based on Alu Insertion.
“ The past three years at LSU have been incredible,” Zimmerman said. “Having three student selected as 2006 Goldwater scholars demonstrates that LSU students can successfully compete with students from other prestigious universities.”
Editor's Note: John Casey, a sophomore at LSU, was given an Honorable Mention in this year's competition.
Gilliam Fellowship
Tam Nguyen qualified for the Gilliam Fellowship through her participation in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunity Program (EXROP) in the summer of 2004 – an opportunity made possible she said, through her nomination to the program by Professor Isiah Warner.
Nguyen began work on her application to the fellowship in her home in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. All of her work, however, was lost in the storm. She asked for and received an extension, allowing her to turn in her work in time with some help from LSU’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, the Office of Director of Fellowship Advising at LSU’s Honors College, the Rudel Lab at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and the Rappoport Lab at Harvard Medical School.
For Nguyen, the fellowship means having a chance to start a new life in North Carolina with her family, as well as having an opportunity to get a jump on becoming a physician scientist. She plans on obtaining a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular pathology at Wake Forest University and a subsequent M.D. with a concentration in cardiology.
Oh and, by the way, Nguyen was the one who jumped up and down screaming upon news of her award. Just your typical reaction to a major academic award.
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Spring 2006
