Undergraduate Researchers in the Wender Lab Awarded the 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholarship

Four Stanford undergraduates named Goldwater Scholars

The national award provides a pathway for outstanding students to pursue research careers in engineering, mathematics, and the natural sciences.

Four Stanford undergraduates have been awarded the 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholarship.

This award established in 1986 and named in honor of the late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, who served for nearly six decades as a soldier and respected leader, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate, is the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering in America.

This year’s recipients are Katherine Healzer, Eric Markarian, Michelle Park, and Jennifer Hamad. The award winners are among 441 Goldwater Scholars selected from 1,300 nominees nationally. Stanford has had a total of 113 Goldwater Scholars since the first scholarship was awarded in 1989.

The Goldwater Scholarship is designed to encourage students to pursue research careers in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Each Goldwater Scholar receives up to $7,500 per year. Students who receive the award as sophomores receive support for up to two years; students who receive the award as juniors receive support for up to one year.

Here’s what this year’s awardees say fuels their passion for their areas of study.

Katherine Healzer - Junior, Biology

Katherine Healzer

“My passion for scientific research and medicine is fueled by my desire to discover novel treatments, creatively problem solve, work collaboratively, and improve quality of life. I am excited to see where scientific understanding, empathy, and passion intersect to decrease health disparities and increase human well-being and connection.”

Eric Markarian - Junior, Individually Designed Major in Bioengineering and Health Systems Design

Eric Markarian

“I’m fascinated by the way we can use biology, tech, and systems thinking to make sense of the human experience, especially when that experience is disrupted by illness. I’ve seen how a lack of innovation or access can widen health disparities, and I want to be part of the generation that builds better bridges: between disciplines, between research and patients, and between what exists now and what could be.”

Michelle Park - Junior, Engineering Physics

Michelle Park

“My passion for astrophysics comes from my fascination with the universe’s largest questions and the challenge of using mathematics and computation to model intricate physical systems. I’m excited to deepen my exploration of computational techniques and apply them to the frontier of astrophysics research. By leveraging these data-driven approaches, I’m thrilled to uncover new insights into the fundamental processes shaping our universe.”

Jennifer Hamad - Junior, Biology

Jennifer Hamad

“It is the hope that accompanies the process of discovery and the excitement of inquisition and unsatiated curiosity that fuels my passion for scientific research. It is also the stories and faces of the people behind the unsolved medical problems that my research aims to tackle that provides me with a deep sense of purpose and serves as my source of relentless drive and unwavering perseverance at the lab bench.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation was established by Congress in 1986 to serve as a living memorial to honor the lifetime work of the late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, who served for nearly six decades as a soldier and respected leader, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate.

Two of the four recipients for this year's Goldwater Award have contributed directly to research in the Wender Lab in the Department of Chemistry.

Jennifer Hamad has been conducting research in the Wender Lab for the past two years. Her research continues to focus on both drug delivery and PKC modulators for HIV eradication. She co-authored research demonstrating that synthetic analogs of EBC-46 can effectively reverse HIV latency in infected cells, as reported in a study published in Science Advances in January 2025.

 Eric Markarian spent a summer working on PKC modulator syntheses in the Wender Lab as part of the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship program in Chemistry.