February 6, 2025

We're pleased to announce that five Drexel students have been nominated for the 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. This award recognizes top undergraduates in science, math, and engineering fields who are planning to pursue research careers and have the potential to be leaders in their fields. The scholarship provides funding for their final year or two of undergraduate study. These five outstanding students were selected to represent Drexel University in the national Goldwater Scholarship competition. We congratulate them on submitting their applications and wish them the best of luck!

Riyana Bhatt
biological sciences ’26

Riyana Bhatt is an honors biological sciences major with a concentration in cellular, molecular, genetics, and biochemistry, along with a minor in bioinformatics. She aims to pursue a PhD in molecular biology, specializing in genetics research to uncover the genetic mechanisms underlying chronic illnesses and contribute to the development of targeted therapies. During her undergraduate studies, Riyana has actively participated in research at UPenn and NYU’s transplant divisions as part of the Keating Lab, where her primary project focuses on multi-omics profiling in human decedents receiving pig heart xenografts. Additionally, she is a member of the Carpenter Lab at UPenn’s Abramson Cancer Center, where she completed her co-op. Riyana is honored to be selected as a Barry Goldwater Scholarship nominee and encourages undergraduates to explore the vast opportunities that research has to offer.

Riyana has been involved in the Pennoni Honors College as a 2023 STAR Scholar and Velay Fellow, and through the Honors Program and Supernova Undergraduate Research Fellows Program.

Mangalam (Madhu) Karuppiah 
biomedical engineering ’26

Madhu Karuppiah is a junior biomedical engineering student on the pre-med track with a minor in actuarial science and a certificate in medical humanities. Since freshman year, she has actively been engaged in research. Madhu’s first research experience was the STAR Scholars program at Drexel. She joined the Reginato Lab at DUCOM to conduct research to find novel ACSS2 inhibitors to treat triple negative breast cancer brain metastasis. Madhu is still in the Reginato Lab with two publications and multiple awards, including ‘Outstanding Undergraduate Poster’ from Discovery Day (2024), Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant (2024), SuperNova Fellow (2024), travel grant (2024), 2nd Place in the STAR Scholars Quick Pitch Competition (2023) and finalist in the Week of Undergraduate Excellence Quick Pitch Competition (2024). Madhu is also involved in clinical research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in the plastic surgery department advised by Dr. Oksana Jackson. At CHOP, Madhu collects data to compare speech outcomes and fistula rate between two common palate repair techniques, straight-line closure with intra-velar veloplasty (IVVP) and Furlow Double-Opposing Z-palatoplasty (Furlow Z-plasty) and is also part of studies related to velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) and 22q deletion syndrome.

Madhu has also been involved in the Pennoni Honors College through the Honors Program and as a 2023-24 Aspire Scholar.

Madeline Navea
psychology ’25

Madeline is a junior psychology major and data science minor. Her interests lie in studying proximal risk factors of self-injurious behaviors using computational modeling and machine learning. In her time at Drexel, she has worked at the Center for Weight, Eating, and Lifestyle Science, where she has pursued over 5 independent projects, conducting computational analyses and using intensive longitudinal data to examine the underlying mechanisms and patterns of risk factors contributing to suicidal behaviors. Madeline has completed the SuperNova Undergraduate Research Fellows Program and received awards such as the Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Fund and travel grants to disseminate her research and pursue other projects. Currently, she is working on her senior thesis involving a dynamic structural equation model on self-injurious urges and behaviors.

Tarek Olabi
biological sciences ’26

Tarek is a sophomore student majoring in biological sciences. Since the beginning of his college education, he has developed a great interest in research and more specifically research related to human health and diseases. He is currently working in a lab in the Chemistry Department, where he is studying the effects of lipids of the fibril formation of amyloid beta 42 protein. These fibrils are the one of the most important molecules that are related to the symptoms that Alzheimer's Disease patients have, therefore studying the molecular interaction between the fibrils and important compartments of the neuron cells will help understand the biochemical mechanisms and pathological pathways of AD. His goal from these research experiences is to join an MD/PhD program and eventually become a physician scientist who is capable of translating basic research findings into the clinic to help elderly patients, who are suffering from aging-related diseases like Alzheimer's or even Parkinson's disease.

Tarek is involved with the Pennoni Honors College through the SuperNova Undergraduate Research Fellows Program.

Rhythm Osan
BS architectural engineering, MS civil engineering ‘26

Rhythm Osan is a 4th year Honors BS/MS architectural & civil engineering student with a concentration in structural engineering. Due to her interest in sustainable infrastructure and net zero energy designs for buildings, she has worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Drexel Advanced Infrastructure Materials (AIM) Lab in an effort to aid thermoregulation in buildings and minimize the use of HVAC systems. She presented her research work at the ACeRs Conference, the AAAS Conference, and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). She has also worked at the Artificial intelligence, Robotics, and Virtual reality for INfrastructures (ARVIN) Lab in an effort to utilize machine learning to train a model to evaluate crack patterns in concrete and predict the structural integrity of concrete structures after multi-hazard activity.

Throughout her college career, she has been involved in STAR Scholars (2022), Aspire Scholars (2022-23), ELS, and has been a an Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant and Travel Grant recipient. Additionally, she is the current Vice President for the Drexel Society of Women Engineers and the Drexel ASHRAE Chapter. 

Rhythm is honored to be a Goldwater Scholarship nominee and aims to continue researching sustainable construction techniques to aid in mitigating climate change.

Special thanks to faculty who sat on the Goldwater Campus Committee, working with Undergraduate Research and Enrichment Programs to review and advise nominees on their applications:

Amy Throckmorton, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, BIOMED
Ramesh Garimella, PhD, Associate Teaching Professor of Mathematics, CoAS
Seena Ajit, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology, CoM
Edward Kim, PhD, Associate Professor of Computer Science, CCI
Wesley Chang, PhD Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, CoE

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

The Goldwater Scholarship was established by Congress in 1986, with the goal of recognizing the nation's top undergraduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math fields. The purpose of the Foundation is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.

For more information about the Goldwater Scholarship, please visit the Goldwater website or contact UREP at fellowships@drexel.edu.