Nikita Kozak, a junior in mechanical engineering from Waukee, Iowa, has received a Goldwater Scholarship, the nation’s premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.
Goldwater Scholarships are awarded by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in STEM research. A total of 496 Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,223 applicants nationwide.
This year, Iowa State is one of only 20 institutions — including Yale, Stanford, Duke and Ohio State — to have all four nominees selected as scholars.
The one-year scholarships are available to juniors and the two-year scholarships are available to sophomores. They cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.
Hands-on research experience
Kozak’s undergraduate research mentors are Ming-Chen Hsu, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Anindya Ghoshal, Muthuvel Murugan and Luis Bravo, research engineers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s Vehicle Technology Directorate.
After graduating from Iowa State, Kozak will pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. He plans to establish his own multidisciplinary research group focused on engine design and computational modeling approaches at a national laboratory.
Research, scholarship opportunities
Any Iowa State student interested in applying for the Goldwater Scholarship should contact Laura Good, assistant director for nationally competitive awards and university honors, at lgood@iastate.edu.
To learn more about undergraduate research opportunities, contact Svitlana Zbarska, undergraduate research coordinator, at szbar@iastate.edu.