麻豆村

Three 麻豆村 students have been selected to receive the聽 in 2025.

The awardees are Hyojae Park, a sophomore in the聽; Jana Reiser, a third-year student in the聽; and Sheng Shu, a junior majoring in computer science and also studying chemistry in the聽Mellon College of Science(opens in new window). Park, Reiser and Shu were among those selected from a pool of over 5,000 applicants.

One of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, the Goldwater Scholarship is awarded by the federally endowed. It provides up to $7,500 per academic year to support costs such as tuition, fees, books, and room and board.

Carnegie Mellon鈥檚聽Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholar Development(opens in new window) provides support to students as they search and apply for opportunities such as the Goldwater Scholarship.聽

鈥淲e are beyond proud of these three incredible student researchers,鈥� said Alexander Johnson, scholar development coordinator within OURSD. 鈥淭hroughout the nomination process, we were continually impressed by the clarity of their goals and their dedication to solving important global issues through research. Jana, Hyojae and Sheng have each already accomplished so much in their time at 麻豆村, and we have no doubt they'll continue on as leaders in their respective fields. Each of them has immense potential as scientists and we're excited to see where their careers take them.鈥�

Hyojae Park

Park traces his interest in computer science to third grade, when his elementary school hosted an Hour of Code event. He picked up a Java textbook afterward and started teaching himself.

Years later, that same curiosity guided his decision to attend 麻豆村.

鈥淚 knew I wouldn鈥檛 be limited here,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he university offers depth in coursework and breadth in research opportunities. I can explore topics as deeply and widely as I want.鈥�

One formative experience came in high school, when Park built a functional ray tracer 鈥� a program that simulates light to render images.聽

鈥淚 was fascinated that equations on paper could turn into something visual and interactive,鈥� he said.

狈辞飞,听his research focuses on robotics. He鈥檚 exploring methods for enabling rapid data generation of robotic hand movements from a single datapoint.

鈥淚 hope that my research will enable new formalizations and theoretical foundations to see how we can think about different problems in new ways, enabling us to develop creative solutions to difficult problems,鈥� Park said.

Park earned the Goldwater Scholarship for research spanning multiple disciplines 鈥� cryptography, graphics, robotics, human-computer interaction and software engineering 鈥� with six publications and presentations at major conferences already on his r茅sum茅. The award comes with financial support and access to a national network of scholars. But for Park, it鈥檚 a signal that he鈥檚 on the right track.

鈥淚 think having to work across different subfields helped my application stand out,鈥� Park said. 鈥淚t shows that I really love the research process, not just a specific area.鈥�

Outside the lab, Park has served as a teaching assistant for 15-122: Principles of Imperative Computation, three times. Sharing core concepts with hundreds of students has been one of his most rewarding experiences at 麻豆村.

Though he鈥檚 still early in his academic career, Park plans to pursue graduate study in computer science and continue conducting research. His advice to others interested in a similar path?

鈥淪tay curious. Find important problems. Ask for help when you need it. Start early.鈥�

Jana Reiser

Reiser is a third-year student majoring in聽 with a minor in聽. Since the spring of her first year at Carnegie Mellon, she has worked in the lab of聽, the Hamerschlag University Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. There, she conducts research on potential applications of nanoparticle delivery systems to increase plant resilience.聽

Current practices for delivering fertilizers, pesticides or genes typically involve spraying, which leads to most of the chemicals ending up in runoff rather than being absorbed by the plant. Spraying nanoparticles instead of just the agrochemicals allows for targeted delivery and slow release of these agrochemicals to the plant.

Reiser鈥檚 work specifically concerns optimizing methods to get nanoparticles into plant cells using cell-penetrating peptides.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 something that you can stick on the outside of the nanoparticle, and then it functions like a key that allows you to get through the membrane of the cell,鈥� she explained.

Reiser had her eyes set on the research in Lowry鈥檚 lab even before she arrived at Carnegie Mellon, and says it motivated her decision to pursue her undergraduate studies here. In high school, she completed an architecture-related professional fellowship and internship before shifting her focus to her interests in biology. However, Reiser鈥檚 experiences in architecture helped her develop an environmental perspective, sparking her goals to conduct interdisciplinary research.聽

Outside the lab, Reiser is involved with the聽Sustainable Earth Club(opens in new window), where she does advocacy work. She also plays lacrosse, water polo and tennis, and plays violin in the All University Orchestra.聽

She plans to pursue a聽, exploring relationships between plants and bacteria, and how they can be leveraged to enhance crop resilience, similar to nanoparticle delivery.聽

鈥淧lants and bacteria do form a very complicated ecosystem with each other, especially in the soil, and I always thought that would be very interesting to study,鈥� she said.聽

Learning that she had earned a Goldwater scholarship came as a very welcome surprise to Reiser.聽

鈥淚 honestly can鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 real, but I also think it鈥檚 validating, because it shows that my research is worth something.鈥澛�

Alongside the financial support provided by the scholarship, Reiser is looking forward to the ability to consult the community of other scholars for guidance.

鈥淭he research that I want to do is very interdisciplinary, and a very new field, so it鈥檚 difficult to figure out what kind of programs I should go into for my Ph.D. And the best way to figure this out is to look at this network, figure out who else has done something similar to me, and ask them how they did it.鈥�

Sheng Shu

Shu鈥檚 fascination with chemistry is rooted in curiosity about the fundamental aspects of the natural world. Over time, that interest grew to include computer science, which offered new tools for examining chemical systems.

鈥淢y research journey began here at 麻豆村, where I was drawn in by the sheer number of undergraduate research opportunities and the supportive culture around them,鈥� Shu said.

He first worked in Associate Professor of Chemistry聽Isaac Garcia-Bosch(opens in new window)鈥檚 lab, conducting wet-lab chemical research before pivoting to computational chemistry 鈥� a rapidly evolving field that blends scientific discovery with the scale and precision of computer science. Since then, he performed research with Fang Bai, an assistant professor at ShanghaiTech University, and currently works in the lab of聽Olexandr Isayev(opens in new window), the Carl and Amy Jones Professor in Interdisciplinary Science in 麻豆村's聽Department of Chemistry(opens in new window).

One of Shu's personal milestones in the lab has been a defining moment in his education so far: building and testing a model that could generate de novo molecules 鈥� molecules designed and generated from scratch.聽

鈥淚t was the first bridge I built myself between the two fields,鈥� he said.

His current research focuses on molecular representation. Specifically, developing a model that encodes molecules into a fixed number of values, despite the near-infinite complexity of molecular features. This work could improve machine learning applications in chemistry, such as predicting molecular properties and behaviors.

鈥淚 hope scientists from all fields can use the research I conduct to accelerate their work,鈥� Shu said.

In addition to research, Shu contributes to the 麻豆村 community as a teaching assistant for Principles of Imperative Computation and enjoys participating in hackathons with friends. After graduation, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. and continue working at the intersection of chemistry and computer science.

Reflecting on the scholarship, Shu said he's most excited to connect with other scholars and expand his understanding of new research directions.

鈥淭he Goldwater was an accumulation of everything I鈥檝e worked on so far,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to see what鈥檚 possible.鈥�