Weinberg juniors Melany Morales and Kate Carver received the 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, the University announced Tuesday. The award is given to students planning to pursue a career in natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.
Morales and Carver join a select group of 438 Goldwater Scholars from a total of 1,353 nominees across the country. Many scholars have gone on to publish research in leading journals, discover cures for diseases and teach the future generation of academics.
“Kate and Melany are stellar students with high levels of resilience and maturity,” Office of Fellowships Associate Director for STEM LaTanya Veronica Williams said in a Tuesday news release. “I am sure that they will follow in the path of previous Goldwater winners and go forward to make great contributions to their fields of study.”
Morales, a neuroscience and psychology major at NU, is involved in the University’s Infant and Child Development Center, the Language, Education and Reading Neuroscience lab, and Northeastern University’s Plasticity in Neurodevelopment Lab.
She said she aims to continue to research the relationship between childhood experiences and language and social-emotional developments.
“This scholarship signifies not only personal achievement, but also the supportive community that has propelled me forward,” Morales said in the release.
Carver, a neuroscience major with a data science minor, has worked with the Perera Lab at the Feinberg School of Medicine for the last two years. Her research includes studying how patients respond to certain drugs based on their genetics in order to improve viable treatment options.
When Carver’s sister was born, she was diagnosed with a developmental delay. A genetic sequencing later confirmed that variants on a gene responsible for neural development contributed to the developmental delay. Carver said she plans to use her understanding of genetics to benefit other families.
“What keeps me going is knowing that there’s a little bit of magic in the work we’re doing, that it has a significant impact on families downstream,” Carver said in the release.
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