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Two students win 2006 Goldwater scholarships
11:42 a.m., April 4, 2006--Two University of Delaware students--Tapan Patel, a junior biochemistry and mathematics major, and Wen Allen Tseng, a junior biological sciences major--have been awarded 2006-07 academic year scholarships by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship program, honoring the late U.S. Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, is designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship, the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields, covers the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to $7,500 per year. Tseng, whose research mentor is Ulhas Naik, associate professor of biological sciences, also is pursuing minors in biochemistry and biochemical engineering. He said he is planning to earn a doctoral degree, so that he can become a professor and run his own research lab. “I think that the Goldwater Scholarship will definitely help me with those aims, because it shows that many people already see a great deal of potential in me as a scientific researcher,” Tseng said.Tseng is currently studying the signaling mechanism of a protein known as junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A) in a process called angiogenesis, which is the formation and growth of new blood vessels. The research has a number of potential biomedical applications, including the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and cancer, because new blood vessels must be formed in order for a solid tumor to get access to enough oxygen and nutrients to sustain its growth. Without angiogenesis, solid tumors would not grow larger than about two or three millimeters in diameter. Patel, who also is studying for minors in computer science, biochemical engineering, biology and philosophy, said he is pursuing a doctoral degree in computational neuroscience or a related field, such as systems biology. He currently is researching lens development, particularly the significance of a pair of interacting proteins (Prox1 and sc35) that are highly expressed in the lens and are important for its development.
“In the past hundred years or so, biologists have focused on functions of particular proteins or enzymatic pathways and have generated tremendous amount of data that are rather disconnected,” Patel said. “Systems biology and computational biology in general tries to assemble a big picture from the small details that biologists have come up with. This ambitious task requires work at the interface of biology, chemistry, math and computer science. It is this interdisciplinary work that sparked a real interest in me to pursue it as a career.” Patel, whose research mentor is Melinda Duncan, associate professor of biological sciences and assistant professor of animal and food sciences, said the award speaks volumes for the quality of UD's education system. “The fact that at least one UD student has won this scholarship for more than four consecutive years speaks a great deal about the excellent faculty at UD,” Patel said. “I am especially grateful to my research advisor, Prof. Duncan, who took me into her lab as a freshman.” Tseng, who enjoys reading Harry Potter books, said he owes his success to his teachers, mentors and family.This year's Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,081 mathematics, science and engineering students who are nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. Goldwater Scholars' impressive academic qualifications have garnered the attention of prestigious postgraduate fellowship programs. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 63 Rhodes Scholarships, 72 Marshall Awards (five of the 42 awarded in the United States in 2006) and many other distinguished fellowships. Article by Martin Mbugua
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