KU News Release

KU nominates four students to compete for national Goldwater scholarships

LAWRENCE — Four University of Kansas students have been nominated to compete for national Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, regarded as the premier undergraduate award to encourage excellence in science, engineering and mathematics.

KU’s Goldwater nominees are:

— Stephanie Ann Hill, Shawnee sophomore in chemistry and biochemistry
— Heather Marie Owen, Leawood junior in electrical engineering
— Kyle Hesed, Pawnee Rock sophomore in biology
— Laura A. Stiles, Prairie Village junior in engineering physics

Goldwater scholarships provide up to $7,500 for tuition, fees, books and room and board. Winners will be announced in late March or early April. Winners who will graduate in 2008 receive one year of support; those graduating in 2009 receive two years of support.

A total of 41 KU students have been selected for Goldwater scholarships since the first scholarships were awarded in 1989. Congress established the program in 1986 to pay tribute to the retired U.S. senator from Arizona and to ensure a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

Goldwater scholars have impressive academic qualifications that have garnered the attention of prestigious postgraduate fellowship programs. Recent Goldwater scholars have received 63 Rhodes scholarships, 80 Marshall awards and numerous other distinguished fellowships.

Only sophomores or juniors who plan to graduate in 2008 or 2009 and who were judged to have outstanding academic records, significant research experience and high potential for a research career in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering were eligible for nomination by their universities. Nominees submitted applications that included an essay related to the nominee’s career and faculty recommendations.

Biographical information about KU’s nominees:

BARTON COUNTY
From Pawnee Rock (ZIP 67567)
Raised on a small farm in central Kansas, Kyle Hesed knew from childhood that he wanted to study reptiles. As a biology major at KU, Hesed has not only made two trips abroad for research with herpetologists but has also begun to focus on researching the evolution of specific species. In July, Hesed will present results of DNA sequencing analysis of lizards that he collected in the Philippines at the national meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Society Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, and Herpetologists’ League. His study was directed by Rafe M. Brown, KU assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. Hesed spent 2004 in Thailand on a KU Natural History Museum Biodiversity Research Center undergraduate research grant to assist in an amphibian study directed by a KU doctoral student, David McLeod. While in Thailand, Hesed conducted his own ecological and morphological study of a little-researched venomous snake. As a KU sophomore, Hesed received an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Award to conduct fieldwork in the Philippines in 2006. Hesed says his study abroad has led to an additional interest in evolutionary linguistics as a minor. He is a graduate of the Otis-Bison Senior High School and the son of Larry and Laurie Hesed.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Leawood (ZIP 66209)
Heather Marie Owen is a junior majoring in electrical engineering with a long-term goal of developing medical imaging technologies to aid in better identification and diagnosis of serious illnesses. Owen, who also enrolls in biology and anatomy classes, anticipates applying radar-imaging concepts to uses such as ultrasound in medicine. For the past year, Owen has worked as an undergraduate research assistant at KU’s Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets. Working under the direction of S. Prasad Gogineni, a Dean E. Ackers Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Owen is redesigning a key component of the radar that generates an ultra-wideband chirp signal. The federally-funded project seeks to improve radar that KU scientists use to measure ice sheets. She is a National Merit Commended Scholar, a Kansas Governor’s Scholar and a KU Watkins-Berger Scholar. She is active in several academic honor societies and volunteers with Jubilee Café, which provides breakfast to the homeless in Lawrence. She is the daughter of Donald and Marjolyn Owen and a graduate of Blue Valley North High School.

From Prairie Village (ZIP 66208)
Laura A. Stiles received an honorable mention in the 2006 Goldwater scholarship competition. As a youngster, Stiles says she dreamed of exploring space. She plans a career in spacecraft design and is majoring in engineering physics with a concentration in aerospace. Stiles has conducted quark chemistry research with an Undergraduate Research Award. To help present her complex topic, Stiles included a bathtub full of quarks in her poster presentation at the 2005 Conference Experience for Undergraduates at the American Physics Society division of nuclear physics United States-Japan meeting in Hawaii. She works as a student research assistant with Michael Murray, assistant professor of physics, studying quark chemistry to examine the chemical equilibrium attained in heavy ion collisions. Stiles has written a paper with Murray on this research that will be submitted for publication. Stiles is also active in KU’s Experimental Balloon Satellite Club that is testing parasail units for high altitude environments. She was a Kansas Honors Scholar and is president of Kappa Delta sorority. She is a Shawnee Mission East High School graduate and the daughter of Mark and Brenda Stiles.

From Shawnee (ZIP 66217)
Watching the impact cancer has had within her family, Stephanie Ann Hill chose to major in chemistry and biochemistry to prepare for a career focused on revolutionizing pharmaceutical treatment of disease, especially cancer. One of Hill’s grandfathers and an aunt died because of cancer, and her mother has battled breast cancer. At KU, Hill is in the lab of Brian S. Blagg, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry, whose research includes the development of anti-cancer agents. Bragg says that Hill’s lab work directed by a doctoral student is included in a journal article that has been submitted for publication. Hill will be listed as one of the authors, reflecting an extraordinary achievement for an undergraduate. She is a National Merit Scholar, a Chancellors Club Scholar and a Kansas Governor’s Scholar. She has received two Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence scholarships and presented posters at the Kansas IDeA seminar and at the KU Research Experience for Undergraduates. In addition to her academic studies, Hill is a violinist in the University Symphony and concertmaster for the University Chamber Orchestra. She is the daughter of Douglas and Mary Hill and a graduate of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.

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