The awards ceremony, which takes its name from the ancient Greek word for trophy, honors graduating seniors for their outstanding accomplishments, both within and outside of the classroom. 

“You are more than ready for what the future holds,” said Rosario Ceballo, dean of the șŁœÇÂÛÌł of Arts & Sciences, to the assembled graduates. “If complacency begins to creep in, shake it away and never stop learning new things, asking more questions and finding connections with others. Congratulations on all you have achieved and best wishes for embracing the many adventures that lie ahead.”

This year, Joshua Gavsie (C’24) was awarded the Coakley Medal, RenĂ©e Clark (C’24) the Kraft Medal, Mike Whittington (C’24) the Louis McCahill Award and Naomi Greenberg (C’24) the Spronck Medal. Connor Hartigan (C’24) delivered the Cohonguroton Address. Amy Leonard received the Bunn Award for Faculty Excellence and addressed the graduating class. 

Joshua Gavsie

Joshua Gavsie received the Coakley Medal, which is awarded annually to the șŁœÇÂÛÌł of Arts & Sciences senior who, in the opinion of the faculty, most embodies the “qualities of loving service, honor and courage in all phases of their college life.” In addition to receiving the Coakley Medal, Gavsie was awarded the Father Robert Hoggson, S.J. Award for Excellence in Sociology.

Gavsie, a double major in government and sociology, has committed himself to pursuing both scholastic and moral questions during his time at Georgetown. 

Gavsie has worked with , the Idol Family Term Chair in the , on research that examines organizational statements related to COVID-19 and racial justice and inequality in the United States. In his own independent and complementary research, Gavsie has explored how organizational statements related to labor practices. 

During Gavsie’s sophomore year, as the Class of 2024 arrived on the Hilltop in the months following the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked as a founding member of the Georgetown Coalition for Workers’ Rights. Gavsie worked with the newly-formed coalition to rebuild long-standing connections between the school’s student body and the dining hall, housekeeping and facilities workers.

Gavsie worked with the Center for Social Justice’s , which works with people experiencing homelessness through a variety of channels, and the , where he helped provide meals and other services to the housing insecure. As an intern with the , Gavsie spent his senior year working on workers’ rights issues for the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. After graduation, Gavsie is planning on attending law school to pursue a career in labor law, which will enable him to continue fighting for workers’ rights. 

The Coakley medal was established in memory of Henry “Hank” Coakley, a Georgetown alumnus and U.S. Air Force pilot, by his wife, Elizabeth Coakley.

Renée Clark

RenĂ©e Clark received the Kraft Medal, given to the graduating student who embodies a “spirit of humility, cooperation and commitment as a woman or man for others in all facets of college life.”

Clark, a double major in government and theology, has produced a trove of interdisciplinary research during her time at Georgetown that explores the intersections of religiosity, race and public policy. Her honors thesis, which was completed as part of her government major, mapped out a theology of reconciliation for communities affected by the opioid epidemic in Appalachia. 

In her first year, Clark dove headfirst into research at the first opportunity after taking Bernie Cook’s course Engaging Slavery Through Research and Radical Imagination. After becoming enthralled with archival research, Clark began working with Cook, associate dean in the șŁœÇÂÛÌł of Arts & Sciences and founding director of the Film and Media Studies Program, on research related the lives of the GU272 and the legacies of Jesuit slaveholding.

A , Clark researched the relationship between faith communities and civic engagement. Originally from Greene, New York, in the Appalachian region, Clark was interested in a comparative study of white church communities in her home state and Black church communities in North Carolina. Clark continued toying with ideas of religion, religiosity and race, which led her to her second major in theology and religious studies. 

The Kraft Medal was established by Mrs. Cornerlia Kraft McKee in memory of her mother, Katherine Kraft. 

Mike Whittington

Mike Whittington, a biochemistry major, received the Louis McCahill Award, given to the student of the graduating class who has “shown perseverance and determination of a high order in pursuing his or her educational objectives at Georgetown.”

Whittington, who first arrived on campus in 2015, took an academic leave of, a cumulative, three years, during which time they took on a number of community-building projects in their hometown of Trenton, New Jersey. Whittington serves as the Director of Operations for Tha Block Trenton, an arts-based collective that works in tandem with local businesses and organizations to provide much-needed resources to all of the city’s residents, including those who are unhoused.

Whittington worked as a training associate and program lead at the , an educational nonprofit in New Jersey focused on boosting student success across the board. They also serve as secretary of the board for , an organization working to transform Trenton’s historic First Presbyterian Church into a community center and arts space.

During their time on and off the Hilltop, Whittington has pursued a slew of academic and personal interests, ranging from becoming a licensed EMT to a certified yoga instructor to a community organizer.  

The McCahill Award was established in 1960 by Mr. Eugene McCahill and Mr. Francis McCahill in memory of their brother, Louis, who died in the service of his country in the First World War.

In embodying the spirit of this award, Mike has remained dedicated and unwavering in their work as a person for others, a scholar and a multi-hyphenate. 

Naomi Greenberg

Naomi Greenberg received the Lambert H. Spronck Medal, which is awarded to the student who has “combined good scholarship with significant contributions to extracurricular activities and who has manifested a spirit of giving completely to whatever Georgetown project of activity she or he has engaged in while at the university.” 

Greenberg, a biology major and journalism minor, has blended her passions for science and writing during her time on the Hilltop. She conducted research into molecular biology, molecular genetics and evolutionary genetics. Throughout Greenberg’s undergraduate career, , a teaching professor in the Department of Biology, acted as an academic and personal mentor. 

“I’m so grateful for the opportunities Georgetown offers its students to pursue not just academic passions, but extracurriculars as well,” Greenberg said. “Working at The Hoya and creating the science section was a highlight of college for me and I’m humbled that my peers and mentors saw the value in that effort.”

Greenberg interned at the National Institutes of Health, where she worked in the lab of Takashi Akera, who studies chromosome dynamics and evolution. She also spent a summer conducting research for the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, where she worked in neurobiologist Erin Schuman’s lab to optimize research experiments and learn molecular biology techniques. This research was supported by a Royden B. Davis Fellowship.

On campus, Greenberg spent all four years involved with The Hoya, working as a copy assistant, copy deputy and copy chief. She then founded and led the publication’s science section, which shines a spotlight on science-related news on the Hilltop and beyond. During her last year as an undergraduate, Greenberg worked at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History writing for both Smithsonian Voices and the Ocean Portal

Greenberg was named a 2024 Marshall Scholar, one of just 413 in the entire country. During her junior year, she was one of two students in the șŁœÇÂÛÌł of Arts & Sciences to receive a Goldwater Scholarship. After graduation, Greenberg will attend Imperial șŁœÇÂÛÌł London where she will pursue a Master of Research (MRes) in systems and synthetic biology. 

Connor Hartigan

Connor Hartigan delivered the Cohonguroton Address at the invitation of the dean, Rosario Ceballo. Taking its name from the Algonquin word for the Potomac River, the Cohongurton Address is delivered by one of the graduating class’s most outstanding students.

In his address, Hartigan addressed the Christian notion of wounded beauty and its relationship to the graduating class. 

“Jesus, as God incarnate, is beauty, goodness and truth itself. Yet on the cross, we see him utterly broken, pierced and bleeding,” Hartigan said. “The faith teaches that it is precisely in this sacrificial suffering — in these wounds of love — that we can find authentic beauty. 

I think we’ve all learned, over the course of our time here, that our beautiful world bears many wounds.”

In his remarks, Hartigan touched on climate catastrophe, authoritarian political movements and xenophobia as examples of the wounds afflicting our shared, beautiful world. To treat these wounds, Hartigan argued, graduating seniors should act as, in the words of St. Francis of Assisi, instruments of peace. 

“When we study, when we learn, when we apply the fruits of our education to make a difference in the world, we do so out of love,” Hartigan said. “Our education at Georgetown has taught us more about how to love — it has imparted to us a deep appreciation, and even reverence, for creation, for all life and for the inherent dignity and worth of each human being.” 

Hartigan pursued a double major in French and government with a minor in theology and religious studies. During the Tropaia Exercises, Hartigan was awarded the Loyola Medal, which is bestowed upon the member of the graduating class of the șŁœÇÂÛÌł of Arts & Sciences who best exemplified Catholic and Jesuit ideals in their collegiate life.

After graduation, Hartigan will begin working as an O’Hare Fellow at America Media, a Jesuit publication based in New York City. 

“During this year, I’ll have the chance to create content for America‘s various platforms, both in print and online, on questions of faith, Jesuit spirituality and their relationship to public life,” Hartigan said. “This position will be an ideal setting in which to translate Georgetown’s values into a professional context.” 

Amy Leonard

, an associate professor in the , received the Bunn Award for Faculty Excellence. 

Established in 1967 to honor Rev. Edward B. Bunn, S.J., the award is chosen by a vote of the senior class and presented to the member of the șŁœÇÂÛÌł faculty who “is admired and respected by all students for their service to Georgetown in the classroom and on the campus community.”

Leonard has published widely on the women of Early Modern Europe, shedding light on the lives of people previously relegated to the peripheries of history and the margins of textbooks.

“Professor Leonard embodies the best of our faculty here in the șŁœÇÂÛÌł of Arts & Sciences, not just in her groundbreaking research, but also in the way that she invites students into an ongoing conversation with the past, present and future of human society and our struggle for a more just world,” Ceballo said. 

In her address to the assembled graduates, Leonard reflected on her career as a historian and a much-loved class that she teaches with , which explores witches and witchcraft in the Early Modern world. The course, which was restructured in 2020, offered a high watermark for both professors and students during an uncertain period. 

“I hope you can learn from that first online year — the disappointment, anger and trauma, but also the successes — and use it going forward,” Leonard said. “Remember how you rose to the occasion; that you persevered and, yes, showed your resilience, by doing what you could to create your own signature college experience.”

“It has been my deepest privilege to teach at Georgetown and I am incredibly honored and humbled to be the recipient of this award.”

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For Jonas Schemm (C’24), the pandemic presented an opportunity to give back, which is why he started volunteering with a local, student-run organization that helped distribute protective equipment to those in need. In the years since, he’s worked with several organizations in a variety of roles, helping get much-needed supplies into the hands of some 200,000 people. 

“Having the opportunity to connect both in-person and online with people from a myriad of backgrounds has been extraordinary and one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” Schemm said. “I feel so lucky to have had the chance to work with an incredible community of volunteers throughout the whole process, and I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish together.”

Providing Pandemic Protection

From his first day of remote learning, Schemm knew that he wanted to keep people safe and he immediately got to work with , an entirely student-run organization that sprouted up in New York during the early days of the pandemic.

“The mission of PPE4ALL was to provide free personal protective equipment to anyone who requested it,” Schemm said. “My work there helped give me a sense of structure and purpose during my transition into college. I felt really lucky to be connected to an organization like that where I could apply myself to something during such an uncertain time.”

The organization solicited donations from individual donors and private companies and then funneled protective gear into the communities that needed it most, determined by evaluating transmission and case rates around the world. PPE4ALL received nearly $49,000 worth of donations and distributed approximately 200,000 individual pieces of personal protective equipment. 

“In that first year, we purchased plastic, elastic and staples with our donation funding and then assembled, by hand, face shields for distribution,” Schemm said. “We also worked with local organizations to transform fabrics into masks which were then also included in our distributions.”

The group began working out of a rented space in Poughkeepsie, New York. 

“It was this huge space in a historic building that was once a trolley barn,” Schemm remembered. “I would go up there for volunteer shifts on the weekends and kept on doing that until I came to Washington, DC for school.”

After spending time as a local volunteer coordinator while still at home, Schemm continued working for an adjacent organization, , as a remote logistics organizer when he arrived on the Hilltop. From Georgetown, Schemm worked with donors and volunteers from across the country, soliciting donations and coordinating the shipment of much-needed resources around the world. He also helped establish a local distribution hub in the greater metro area, distributing nearly 10,000 KN95 masks to individuals and groups in need.

Researching And Living on the Hilltop

Schemm, a biochemistry major, was eager to get hands-on research experience when he arrived at Georgetown. From classes to lab work, he says, the experience has been incredible. 

In the spring of his sophomore year, he joined the lab of , a professor in the . Since joining the Roepe Lab, Schemm has had the chance to work on several different topics, including the perfusion of drug probes in live parasites and the expression of mutated proteins in yeast. As part of the honors program in the chemistry department, Schemm’s work culminated in an honors thesis summarizing significant results from his research. 

“My thesis explored what happens to drug transport activity when we select key regions of a specific parasite protein and mutate them,” Schemm said. “We found that mutating these parts of the protein significantly reduced drug transport, far more than we had originally hypothesized.” 

These findings, he says, contribute to a better overall understanding of the structural nature of this protein and how it operates in the parasite. For Schemm, Georgetown offered fantastic research opportunities both in faculty labs and in his coursework.

In ’s class Experimental Methods in Biophysical Chemistry, Schemm had the opportunity to complete two semester-long projects. Both projects complimented the work of the , which studies biochemistry in living cells. One project, which involved proposing a new RNA probe to complement existing probes used by the lab, bore fruit even after students had left the classroom. 

“A few months after the course finished, the professor reached out to me and other students in the course requesting permission to share our RNA probe proposals with a collaborator at Fairfield University,” said Schemm. “In short, another course taught by a synthetic chemist at Fairfield would involve the students synthesizing some of the probes we had proposed in our class, which could then be used in the Braselmann Lab for future experiments.” 

“I am quite excited at the prospect of these probes being ‘brought to life,’” Schemm said. “It seemed like I was able to have a tangible albeit small role in potentially shaping the future of this collaboration and that felt incredibly rewarding.”

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What has been the highlight of the program so far?

The summer was incredible – going to a vineyard and taking samples, sitting in labs for countless hours a week and doing real science. My favorite part had to be getting to know f and , who mentored us very closely because we still didn’t know what college would be like and they reassured us every step of the way.

What is your biggest takeaway from the program?

My biggest takeaway was to dream again. They taught me that I didn’t just have a seat at the table, but the power to radically change things for me and others and that I could be what I wanted to be but the first thing I needed to do was to dream again.

What does it mean to be a Regents STEM Scholar?

Being in the Regents STEM Scholar program means being part of a community of like-minded individuals who are here for your development. Not everything in college will be a success and not everything will be easy, but I can also count on the Regents STEM Scholars program to be around when thinks do get shaky.

The Regents STEM Scholars Program is celebrating seven years of first-generation college students like Assefa gaining hands-on experience with scientific research before the academic year begins — as well as support throughout their time at Georgetown. The program was founded to augment Georgetown’s existing support systems with an eye towards the mentorship and experience required for scholars pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). 

“We sought to build on the fabulous work of the Community Scholars Program to create additional layers of community and support that could help students better achieve their goals for a STEM education,” said Heidi Elmendorf, associate professor of biology who leads the program. “What had become clear to us is that students in STEM disciplines had needs for community and support that were quite specific, that we weren’t meeting, and that were leading us to be less successful in supporting these students.”

Before most of their peers arrive on campus, scholars in the program arrive on the Hilltop for summer research. Each cohort works as a group conducting research for Glen Manor Vineyards, a winery in Warren County, Virginia. With guidance from core faculty members, like Jeanetta Floyd, students collect samples from the roots, soil and leaves of plants on the vineyard. 

The RSSP runs a year-round pop-up lab, designed and implemented by , that features microbiome research from a range of partners, from faculty labs to government organizations. This lab provides scholars with the opportunity to further develop their scientific research and professional skills before making the transition to other research positions. The lab is the RSSP in a microcosm, welcoming students into the scientific community and providing them with the skills and tools to thrive as students and researchers. 

For Elmendorf, bringing students into the scientific fold as people and as academics is incredibly important. In addition to the summer research and pop-up lab, the RSSP provides professional and financial support to scholars throughout their time at Georgetown.

“Creating communities that are inclusive and environments in which every individual fully matters as we work toward a shared purpose is a manifestation of caring for the whole person,” said Elmendorf. “Our students are incredibly smart, creative and determined. Research is difficult, and presenting students with an authentic research project from the get-go is a powerful way of demonstrating our belief in them and of making the very best use of their many talents.”

A generous gift from Joe Zimmel (C’75) fully funded the implementation and running of the Regents STEM Scholars Program for its first decade. 

“Georgetown invested in me by providing a scholarship that changed my life,” said Zimmel. “I am grateful to be able to try to do the same thing for these very talented young people. I hope others will do the same thing by creating and supporting scholarship initiatives in other academic areas at Georgetown.”

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A biology major and STIA minor, Ratliff has had a passion for science since she was young. 

“Both of my parents work for NASA, so I grew up with an appreciation for space and space science, but I never saw myself as contributing to it until I came to Georgetown,” she explains. “I came into the university as a biochemistry major because of a research project I had worked on at Caltech in high school, but after meeting with Sarah Johnson, I realized that astrobiology and policy were hugely important fields that I wanted to become involved in.”

Alongside her passion for science, Ratliff says that she has been intrigued by policy since she took a class on constitutional law in the twelfth grade. Her experiences with Johnson, principal investigator of the Johnson Biosignatures Lab at Georgetown, made her realize that there was an opportunity to merge her areas of interest through a career in space policy with a focus in astrobiology.

Mentorship and Mars Missions

During her first year at Georgetown, Ratliff reached out to Johnson, who was able to provide guidance on internships and research opportunities. By her junior year, Ratliff joined the Johnson Biosignatures Lab, where she has been seeking links between the building blocks of microbes and their environment. 

“Laura has been such a delight to have in the lab,” Johnson says. “Her passion for space exploration runs deep, as does her interest in the limits of life here on Earth. She is brilliant and tenacious, unafraid to take on daunting things.”

As a visiting scientist with the Planetary Environments Lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Johnson connected Ratliff with her colleagues in the lab this past summer characterizing life in environments on Earth that could be analogs for other places in the solar system. Ratliff says that though she was originally going to focus on lab work to support her senior thesis, this opportunity had greater long-term benefits. 

“Working virtually at Goddard was probably the most useful thing I could have done with my summer because I was introduced to the whole field of astrobiology in a much more comprehensive way than had I proceeded with my thesis,” Ratliff says. “Sarah has been really good at guiding me towards opportunities that will broaden my mind and she’s also helped me find both the science policy and lab work that I wanted in my undergraduate experience.

In addition to these opportunities, Ratliff also pursued an internship with the Mars Exploration Program. Georgetown is part of the DC Space Grant Consortium, of which this program is a subset. Department of Physics professor Edward Van Keuren serves as the university’s contact and principal investigator. 

The senior was selected for the internship along with one other student. In her role, Ratliff is helping to lay the foundation for a mission to send humans to Mars. 

More on Mapping Mars

The preliminary research conducted by the Mars Exploration Program is crucial for human spaceflight to the red planet, as the explorers will be gone for several years at a time. This means that not only will NASA need a thorough science plan in order to optimize the time spent on Mars, but they will also have to consider more basic needs such as where to obtain water. 

Ratliff has been contributing to this research in addition to the international Mars Ice Mapper mission, which aims to send a synthetic aperture radar to scan for ice that would be accessible for human extraction. This work ties into greater Mars exploration as this knowledge will inform where NASA can send humans.  

“Indicators of near-surface ice on the planet will enable humans to visit and collect ice cores, which is currently one of the main objectives of sending humans to Mars,” Ratliff explains. “Ice cores are mainly used to look at the historical record of a planet, in the same way that you can examine the rings of a tree. This mission is helping us try to find that sweet spot where there is ice that is scientifically interesting and also easily accessible.”

Extracurriculars on Campus

This summer, Ratliff will be using a NASA fellowship through the DC Space Grant Consortium to fund her research in the Johnson Lab on hypersaline environments in order to contribute to the greater field of astrobiology. 

Alongside her work in Johnson’s lab and for NASA, Ratliff serves as a co-president for the Georgetown University Astronomical Society, where she has been working to preserve the on-campus observatory. 

Ratliff is also a member of the Georgetown University Technology and Engineering Club, where she has led the design of a high-altitude balloon that will sample microbes in the stratosphere, with a planned launch in the next academic year.

Outside of her many scientific contributions to the university, Ratliff sings in the Georgetown University Chamber Singers, a Baroque and Renaissance choral group. She says that this organization has given her the strongest sense of community on and off campus. She also performed with the Tappin’ Jacks, Georgetown’s tap dance club, although it has been suspended until students are back on campus.

Her experiences at Georgetown and working for NASA have encouraged Ratliff to pursue a master’s focused on international space policy from George Washington University later this year. She hopes that she will be able to pursue a career as a bridge between space scientists, policymakers and the greater community.

The prestigious national scholarship – given to students who excel in mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences – has been awarded to three other Georgetown șŁœÇÂÛÌł students over the past six years. They include Patrick Mulcahey (C’19), and

“I am so honored and excited to have been selected as a 2020 scholar, and so thankful to everyone – especially my academic mentors and my parents – who have supported me over the years,” says Good. “I hope that this recognition of my research will afford me new opportunities to continue my training so that I can most effectively help people and advance scientific understanding through my work.”

Good plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biophysics and computational biochemistry after graduating from Georgetown to address questions of protein structure, function and design as an academic researcher in order to help other scientists develop tools to better understand diseases such as cancer, genetic diseases or viruses.

Working for Others

The rising senior spent her first, sophomore, and junior years working in professor lab, which focuses on intra-protein signal transduction mediated by allosteric interactions. 

“Lydia provides a numerical and computational approach to study how proteins receive and pass along signals,” says Maillard. “The results from her work focused on Protein Kinase A, may open new opportunities for the development of novel therapeutics.”

Good’s work specifically looks at applying statistical tools to traditional biophysical analysis methods. Good started her research as a collaboration with professor . 

“These new approaches enable more robust and detailed descriptions of the processes of protein interactions from data collected using optical tweezers,” she says.

Summer Research

The Goldwater recipient also earned an opportunity with the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program with the Rosetta Commons, a group of academic labs studying protein structure prediction using the Rosetta macromolecular modeling, earlier this year. She is spending this summer examining a new area of protein research through a lab at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Good’s research acumen has been recognized with numerous awards including the Clare Booth Luce Scholarship and Summer Fellowship, the and the Baker Scholars Fellowship. 

Enjoying Campus Life

When she is not in the lab, Good can be found dancing alongside her peers in the , where she also works as the student artistic director. Good is also an energy and water conservation team member with .  

This past season, she had the opportunity to choreograph her first original work for the company. Good says that dancing “not only helps me keep active and maintain balance in my life on campus, it engages a completely different but complementary side of my brain to my research.”

“It was a unique challenge that taught me not just about dance but about the process of reflecting, putting pieces and people together, and presenting work to a broader audience,” she continues. “I also value GUDC and GREEN for the amazing group of people from all sides of campus that I have met through these organizations, many of whom have become my closest friends at Georgetown.”

April 12, 2018 — Georgetown șŁœÇÂÛÌł biochemistry major Patrick Mulcahey (C’19) has been awarded a , a prestigious national scholarship given to students who excel in mathematics, engineering, and the natural sciences.

Jane Donnelly (C’19) and Matthew Park (C’19) were also recognized with honorable mentions from the Goldwater Foundation. This is the first time three of Georgetown’s four annual Goldwater nominees have been chosen as scholarship winners.

Mulcahey’s award marks the second consecutive year — and third year in the last five — that a Georgetown șŁœÇÂÛÌł student has received a Goldwater Scholarship. Ayan Mandal (C’18) won in 2017, and won in 2014.

“There have been points in my time doing research when nothing seems to work, regardless of how many hours I worked or thought about my project,” Mulcahey said. “Sometimes, these difficulties made me question whether a life of research was for me, or whether an M.D./Ph.D. was even reasonable. An award like the Goldwater Scholarship is an incredible reminder that scientific research is indeed my calling and that I’m on the right path to becoming a physician scientist.”

WINNER: PATRICK MULCAHEY

A native of Newtown, Penn., Mulcahey has compiled an impressive research record since arriving on the Hilltop in 2015. He began researching alongside of the  in his first semester; by his sophomore year, he started his own research project investigating the properties of zinc oxide nanomaterials.

“This work is but a matter of honest toil and persistence,” Mulcahey said. “I am grateful for people like my parents and my mentor, Dr. Hahm, for helping me keep that in mind even in the most difficult of moments.”

As part of his work in the Hahm lab, Mulcahey assisted in biotechnology research that led to publications in and , and which “could inform biomedical engineers and other medical professionals in the design of biocompatible devices and implants.”

“I am fascinated by the nano-bio interface — where the engineered technologies we make in our laboratories meet the intricacies of living systems,” Mulcahey said. “The problem of incorporating nanotechnology into living systems touches fields from brain mapping to cancer drug delivery to integrated bioelectronics.”

Mulcahey’s drive for intellectual exploration hasn’t been limited to the academic year: The junior has conducted research into sea lamprey neural regeneration at . This summer, he will intern at the .

Like Mandal, Mulcahey hopes to pursue a combination M.D./Ph.D. program after he graduates next year. He anticipates that his chosen specialty of nanomaterials in biotechnology will lead him to work in some of medicine’s most exciting and unexplored frontiers.

“I am most excited about the specific issues — perhaps questions we haven’t even thought to ask yet — that my scientific career will lead me to consider and to try to understand,” Mulcahey said.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: JANE DONNELLY AND MATTHEW PARK

The two students to receive honorable mentions from the Goldwater Foundation have amassed impressive research records of their own.

Jane Donnelly (C’19) majors in biochemistry and minors in French. She has conducted research in Dr. Timothy Warren’s lab on the conversion of nitrite to nitric oxide in biologically important copper-center enzymes.

Like Mulcahey, Donnelly plans to pursue a combination M.D./Ph.D. program. She hopes to continue studying bioinorganic chemistry, particularly its application to neurodegenerative illness.

Matthew Park (C’19), a biological physics major with minors in biology and STIA (science, technology and international affairs), is currently researching cancer immunology in . He has also investigated applications of plant hormones to pancreatic cancer treatment alongside the .

After graduation, Park will attend the , where he received early admission in 2017. He hopes to develop a better understanding of the relationship between genetic abnormalities and cancer and to continue researching immunotherapeutic cancer treatments.