USC takes award for 20th straight year
William "Cole" Franks, Daniel Grier and Gerry Koons won the Goldwater Scholarship this year, marking the 20th consecutive year a USC student has won the award.
The Goldwater is widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious scholarship for undergraduates in the fields of science and mathematics.
Colleges can nominate up to four students for the award each year, for a total this year of 1,123 candidates. Of them, just 282 received the scholarship.
"This is the 20th year that USC has at least one Goldwater scholarship. We are continuing that streak, but I think having three out of four speaks to the strength of the students," said Jennifer Bess, fellowships coordinator in the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs.
The university's three winners tied USC with the University of Alabama for the second-most recipients in the Southeastern Conference after the University of Georgia, which had four.
USC's 2012 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars, one second-year and two third-year students, all came from within the Honors College, according to a university release.
Franks, a third-year mathematics and physics student from Greenville, was also awarded the Cary K. Smith Jr. Mathematics scholarship and plans to pursue a career in academia.
"My research project sponsored by the (Cary K. Smith Jr.) scholarship is to work on a graph theory conjecture put forward by one of our faculty members," Franks said in an email response from Budapest, where he and Grier are studying abroad. "After graduating, I plan to attend graduate school in mathematics and then teach and do research at a university."
Franks expressed his love for research and explained his previous research experience that helped him win the scholarship.
"I did one [National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program (REU)] at the College of William and Mary in matrix analysis, then another in differential geometry at Cal State, San Bernardino," he wrote. "I worked on some nuclear physics research under one of our physics professors here at USC as well. The reason for doing these projects is that I enjoy doing research."
Grier, a third-year mathematics and computer science student from Greenville, also received the Wilson Scholarship for undergraduate research and the Computer Research Association Undergraduate Research Award.
"I've done two REUs — one at [the University of Illinois] verifying hybrid automata, and one at Auburn studying the Van der Waerden numbers," he said in an email response.
Grier is also currently conducting research on campus in computer science and said he has pursued research for its potential to effect change.
"I do research because I find it enjoyable," Grier wrote. "Hopefully, someone will be able to use my results someday to have some sort of positive impact on society."
Koons is a second-year biomedical engineering student minoring in German who came to USC from Wayne, Pa. She has also received the Joseph M. Biedenbach Engineering scholarship and plans to use her career to research medical procedures, with a focus on surgery for children with cranial and facial deformities.
"I would like to receive an M.D.-Ph.D. in biomedical engineering," she said. "I would really like to conduct research in the field of pediatric cranio-facial surgery."
Those aspirations are reflected in Koons' current research.
"I've been doing research at the medical school since January of last year, and I am working with Dr. Yost," she said. "Our research project is skeletal muscle tissue engineering for use in cranio-facial surgery."
Koons also feels that her prior research has helped prepare her for the future.
"I am from the Philadelphia area originally, and over the summer, I participated in a program called academic associate clinical emergency research," she said. "They have been amazing research experiences to prepare me for the engineering and medical clinical aspect of my future."
Koons said she was elated when she received the scholarship.
"I was excited to have won it not just for myself, but (because) it demonstrates the incredible opportunities that are here at USC," she said. "The fact that I was able to build an application that was strong enough demonstrates that."