April 3, 2020

Congratulations to Drexel's 2020 Goldwater Scholarship recipients – Ashley Bishop and Hunter Heidenreich!

The Goldwater Scholarship recognizes undergraduates in science, math, and engineering fields planning to pursue research careers and with the potential to be leaders in their fields. The scholarship provides funding for their final year or two of undergraduate study. These students were selected from a high-competitive pool of college sophomores and juniors nominated by academic institutions across the United States. We are delighted they've been recognized for their hard work and potential!

Ashley Bishop (BS/MS Biomedical Engineering ’22, Honors) is a pre-junior biomedical engineering student concentrating in neuro-engineering with an interest in brain-computer interactions (BCI). Ashley started her undergraduate research career in Drexel’s iSTAR program researching the integration of BCIs with speech imagery at the Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar (SSN) College of Engineering in Chennai, India under Dr. A. Kavitha. During her first co-op, she participated in research on assistive technology for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis under Dr. Heinman-Patterson at the Temple University School of Medicine. Before leaving for her current co-op, she worked with the Cognitive Neuroengineering and Wellbeing Laboratory (CogNeW) lead by Dr. John Medaglia, helping analyze MEP data. Currently, she is working with Dr. Kurtulus Izzetoglu at the Cognitive Neuroengineering and Quantitative Experimental Research (CONQUER) Collaborative and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) on integrating and synchronizing real-time data from physiological devices for adaptive training. After graduation, Ashley plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, focusing on neuro-engineering. Ashley’s faculty mentors for the Goldwater application process were John Medaglia, Kavitha Adandhan, and Roy Gunnarson.

Hunter Heidenreich (BS Computer Science ‘21) is a junior computer science student minoring in mathematics. Hunter began his research career through Drexel’s STAR program, working in the Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center on machine learning and robotics under Dr. Youngmoo Kim. This experience lead to research interest in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and optimization. Currently, Hunter works under Dr. Johnson on HSpiral (a compiler for efficient signal transform algorithms) and Dr. Williams on projects centered around language and semantics. Hunter intends to pursue a PhD in computer science centered around machine learning, NLP, and computational social science. Hunter's faculty mentors for the Goldwater application process were Jake Williams, Jeremy Johnson, and Vasilis Gkatzelis.

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The Goldwater Scholarship recognizes the nation's top undergraduates in natural science, engineering, and mathematics and is the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these field. Goldwater Scholars receive an educational scholarship of up to $7,500/year, as well as national recognition in the Chronicle of Higher Education. These students join a community of scholars with impressive academic and research qualifications, which often garner the attention of prestigious post-graduate fellowship programs. Goldwater Scholars have been awarded Rhodes Scholarships, Marshall Scholarships, Churchill Scholarships, Hertz Fellowships and numerous other distinguished awards like the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.

See previous Drexel Goldwater Scholars and Honorable Mentions.

• Paul Brandt-Rauf, Dean and Distinguished University Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
• Dave Goldberg, Associate Department Head for Undergraduate Studies and Professor, Physics, College of Arts and Sciences
  
• Jaya Mohan, Director, Office of Undergraduate Research, Pennoni Honors College

We would like to send an additional thanks to those faculty members who participated in anonymous application review, providing written feedback to the candidates.

For more information about the Goldwater Scholarship, please contact Leah Gates, Director of the Center for Scholar Development, at lhg33@drexel.edu.