Drexel University College of Computing & Informatics (CCI) junior-year student Abe Jeyapratap, BS computer science and mathematics ’25, is the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. The Goldwater recognizes excellence among undergraduate sophomores and juniors planning to pursue research careers in STEM. Drexel University is permitted to nominate only a few students a year for this award, and Jeyapratap was among just 438 scholars selected nationwide.
Jeyapratap, who is also a student in the Pennoni Honors College’s Honors Program, currently serves as a teaching assistant within CCI, and research assistant within CCI and the College of Engineering.
Jeyapratap’s research interests lie in the interdisciplinary applications of technology, particularly in fields like healthcare. Since freshman year, he has actively engaged in research, contributing to three different VIP projects. Later, he conducted computational neuroscience research advised by Yusuf Osmanlioglu, PhD, assistant teaching professor, Department of Computer Science, where he applied graph theoretical and machine learning techniques on neuroimaging brain data. His research won first place at the 2023 AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) e-poster competition.
“As an undergraduate student with three papers so far — two peer reviewed conference papers, one as the first author and the other as the second author, and an arXiv [open access] paper, in addition to a best poster award, this scholarship is well deserved,” said Osmanlioglu.
Currently, as a Drexel Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant recipient, he is working on robotics research with faculty advisor Lifeng Zhou, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Their project, titled “Safe Planning for Autonomous Vehicles,” aims to investigate and design novel methods of behavior and trajectory prediction to ensure safe planning for autonomous vehicles to combat uncertainties in the real world.
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 Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesperson, including 30 years in the US Senate. Over its 30-year history, Goldwater Scholarships have been awarded to thousands of undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to win other prestigious awards like the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Fellowship, Rhodes Scholarship, Churchill Scholarship and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship that support the Scholars’ graduate schoolwork. Today, Goldwater alumni can be found conducting research that is helping defend the US, finding cures for catastrophic diseases and teaching future generations of scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
Learn more on the Goldwater Scholarship website, and/or view all Drexel 2024 Goldwater Scholars on Pennoni’s website.