Two NJIT Undergraduate Researchers Awarded Goldwater Scholarships

From an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, two NJIT students — Simone Bishara and Vishva Rana, both Albert Dorman Honors College scholars — have been named Goldwater Scholars this year by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship is recognized as among the country’s most prestigious for STEM undergraduates pursuing research careers.

The NJIT Goldwater Scholars represent two of 10 statewide, and 417 total students across the United States with over 400 academic institutions nominating students. Goldwater Scholars each earn a prize of up to $7,500 per year for up to two years to support their education and research.

Bishara is a junior majoring in biochemistry and boasts a near-perfect 3.94 GPA. Bishara is working with Professor Jonathan Grasman and doctoral student Nataliz Kozan on the construction of tissue scaffolds built from hydrogels made of fibrin. The ultimate goal of her research is to create scaffolds that can be used to aid victims of volumetric muscle loss. She plans to pursue graduate studies in a joint DMD/Ph.D. program with a focus on oral biology.

Rana is a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. She received the Albert Dorman Honors College's Moonshot Prize for her work to examine air pollution in the City of Newark and to create access to data for its residents. She has performed research on the microporosity of shale with Professor Jay Meegoda focusing on optimizing extraction of natural gas from shale deposits. After completing her undergraduate studies, she intends to pursue doctoral studies with a focus on urban sustainability and smart cities.

With the 2022 awards, this brings the number of Goldwater Scholars at NJIT to eight over the last three years. The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics.

Look out for a full profile of these students and their research later in the spring.