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HONORS STUDENTS NAMED 2015 GOLDWATER SCHOLARS
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hree UGA Honors students and Foundation Fellows—Lauren Dennison, Erin Hollander, and Karishma Sriram—have received 2015 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, the premier undergraduate scholarship in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. All three students are enrolled in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and plan to earn doctoral degrees related to biomedical research. Lauren is a fourth-year student from Raleigh, North Carolina, who is pursuing a double major in biochemistry & molecular biology, and genetics. She aims to earn a Ph.D. in cancer biology to explore the pathology of leukemia and the mechanisms that lead to drug resistance. She conducts CURO research in the lab of Dr. Stephen Hajduk, and spent summer 2014 researching at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. She returned last summer to New York to work at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Her overall research has resulted in a paper that she has submitted for publication, and she has presented her findings at a national conference.
Erin Hollander
research findings at the 2015 CURO Symposium, an annual event to showcase the best research being conducted by UGA undergraduates. Erin spent last summer conducting research at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. Karishma, a fourth-year student who is also from Athens, is pursuing a degree in biochemistry & molecular biology and plans to enroll in a combined M.D./Ph.D. program to pursue research in the use of stem cells in healing bone injuries and other tissue damage. She has conducted research through CURO in Dr. Steve Stice’s lab. In addition to her research in the Stice lab, she conducted policy research under the mentorship of Dr. Bryan McCullick through the Roosevelt Scholars course, offered by the Honors Program. Her policy analysis and proposal focused on effective ways to address lack of physical education in high schools.
Like Lauren, Erin, a third-year student from Athens, Georgia, is pursuing a double major in biochemistry & molecular biology, and genetics. She plans to earn a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering with the goal of conducting research in treatments for neurological disorders using gene therapy techniques. She has conducted research through CURO in the lab of Drs. Michael and Rebecca Terns. She also conducted research through the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Lübeck in Germany via the DAAD RISE scholarship program. Erin presented her
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