1. Goldwater Scholarship
Important Application Information
&
Insights from National Selection Committee
Dr. Julia Goldberg, Associate Dean of the College
November 2016

2. Goldwater Scholarship Website

3. Campus Application Materials
scholarships/goldwater-scholarship/
In-house Application
Application Notes/Advice
Information for Recommenders
Article on the Scholarship by Prof. Lanning & Dr. Gilmore (former president of the Scholarship foundation)

4. Campus Application Materials, Con’t
A complete campus application will consist of the following:
In-house application form
3 page research essay
A separate CV/Resume
Names/contact info for 3 (or more) recommenders
3 Letters of Recommendation submitted electronically as attachments
Nomination & Permission Waiver Form

5. Career Goal (2 short Questions)
In one or two sentences, describe your career goal. (200 character limit/includes spaces)
Example: Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. Conduct research in biomedical science and teach at the university level.
You may provide a more detailed description of your career goals. (1000 character limit/includes spaces)

6. Professional Aspirations
What are your professional aspirations?
Indicate in which area(s) of mathematics, science, or engineering you are considering making your career and specify how your current academic program and your overall educational plans will assist you in achieving this goal. (3000 character limit/including spaces)

7. Motivation for STEM Career
Describe an activity or experience that has been important in clarifying or strengthening your motivation for a career in science, mathematics, or engineering. (2000 character limit/including spaces)

8. Personal Information
Goldwater Scholars will be representative of the diverse economic, ethnic, and occupational backgrounds of families in the United States.
Describe any socio-economic impacts you have personally experienced that influenced your education – either positively or negatively – and how you dealt with them. (2000 character limit/including spaces)
The question & the focus of the question—the student’s economic, ethnic, racial & occupational backgrounds of their families—is asking for influences upon your education and interest in STEM. Your comments should show a link to your education or how events shaped your interest in research. Pos/Neg influences: exs—a parent who is in STEM may influence your decision positively or negatively; did you take advantage of the opportunities the parent’s situation afforded? By taking advantage, does this show maturity? What if parents did not have a STEM background or upbringing was otherwise deficient in STEM education/opportunities? Did this impact your 1st year grades?
What about time constraints for those of you who have to work over summers or during school year? Or athletes who might also have difficulties securing STEM research activities? Or even that you manage to do it all—work, athletics, research, and…

9. Personal Information, con’t
Personal information is optional.
Encouraged to complete this section
Personal information is a minor factor compared to major evaluation criteria
Level of detail is left to nominee
Personal information is never negative in the review
Helpful for nominees who have non-traditional background or an inconsistency in the application.
Impact of economic or ethnic background
Impact of employment as undergraduate

10. Research Activities Section
This is where you get to tell us if you have engaged in research, including CURE – course based undergraduate research. If you have not participated in research, do not despair – you, too, will be considered. BTW, for those of you with math backgrounds & experiences, those math competitions also count here.
The focus in this section is on YOUR research experiences! Other considerations, like the lab administrative group, etc. are secondary.
It is imperative that you describe YOUR contributions to the research. If the research includes many “sub” projects, list them separately, don’t list all the different experiments/projects you have done with Prof. X as her EXCEL as one activity.

11. Research Activities
List past and present research activities associated with your interests in mathematics, science, or engineering in which you regularly participate.
Explain the duration, degree, and significance of your involvement, including what responsibilities you had in the project.
In the absence of formal research experience, describe briefly any other skills or accomplishments, i.e., posters, presentations, publications, etc., significant and relevant to this application.

12. Research Activities, Con’t.
Have you regularly participated in research associated with your interests in STEM (yes/no)…if “yes” then:
In reverse chronological order (from most to least recent), list up to 5 research activities:
Start dateEnd date
Hours/Week
Name of PI or Supervisor
Purpose of research (1000 characters incl. spaces)
Products of your work (written reports, abstracts or papers authored, posters or talk presentations at scientific meetings, etc. including those anticipated and/or in progress)
If you are nominated by the College, you will find that the question/formatting will differ slightly from our in-house application form to the official one. You may find that getting the information conveyed may take a slightly different strategy. For ex., on the official application, this year, you are limited to listing only 1 publication per activity. The Foundation, therefore, will accept additional publications tucked within the “Purpose of the Research” spot. Additionally, the Foundation has suggested that given this limitation in the official current application, the research mentor writing the LOR should include additional details of the research and publications, works in progress, etc.

13. Research Activities, Con’t
In the absence of formal research:
If you answered “No” to the initial prompt, you should briefly describe any other skills or accomplishments, that are significant and relevant to your application. (limited to 1000 characters/including spaces)
In your response, demonstrate intellectual curiosity (e.g., independent investigation of theory/issues; CURE, relevant studies for SEES, EWB, etc.; plans for securing research (e.g., NSF-REUs, internships w/ industry, etc.). Include posters, presentations, publications, tutoring, etc.

14. Other Activities: List Up To 5
In order of importance to you, list up to 5 activities in which you have participated, such as athletics, clubs, public service, campus/other publications (e.g., newspapers, blogs), special interest groups, theatre, band, student government, Landis, etc.
Include:
Organization name
Organization type
Your Role/Involvement
Leadership Position(s)
Dates/duration of your involvement

15. Recognitions, Awards, Honors & Scholarships
In this section, you will have the opportunity to list up to 5 “Recognitions” that you have received over the last 4 years. You will list tem in chronological order.
Include:
Recognition
Type
Award Description
Award Year

16. Accomplishments & Skills
This bit is up to your discretion. Perhaps it has nothing to do with STEM.

17. Research Essay: 3 Pgs/12 Pt
Discuss a significant issue or problem of particular interest.
The essays should be carefully thought-out and well-researched.
You are expected/encouraged to work with your faculty/research mentor as you develop and finalize your essay.
The essay should include bibliography/references & illustrations (where appropriate).
The essay’s content & style is important! Assume that the reader will
have the expertise to read, review, and understand the complexities of
the field of specialty.
The student should prepare a carefully thought out, well-researched response to the essay question. The essay should be typed and confined to two pages (one side only). Font size may not be smaller than 11 point. The essay will need to be mailed in with the transcripts and other supporting documents. The essay should discuss a significant issue or problem in the student’s field of study that is of particular interest to the student. The student’s essay must include a description of the issue or problem, discussion of an idea for research that would have significant impact on the issue or problem, describing an aspect of the research in which the student would be involved, and explaining the relevance of the issue or problem to the student as a mathematician, scientist, or engineer. The content and style of the student’s essay will be important to the success of the student’s scholarship application. The student should assume that the reader is knowledgeable in mathematics, science, and engineering, and will have the expertise to read, review, and understand the complexities of the student’s field of specialty. If the student’s essay involves research in which they are or were involved, they should indicate if they are or were the sole researcher or if they collaborated with another individual. The student should include a bibliography, references, or illustrations, when appropriate, as part of the essay. The essay must include the following identifying information at the top of each page: a. Student’s Name, b. Name of student’s college or university, and c. Student’s signature

18. Research Essay, Con’t
You have a couple of approaches available to you:
If you have done research, you may opt to report on that research
If you have done research, you may opt to report on that research as well as propose next-steps/extension of that research
If you have NOT done research OR you want to diverge from your past/current research, you should propose an idea for research incl. methodology, rationale, and discussion of anticipated results

19. Letters of Recommendation
3 LORs: 2 faculty (at least 1 from a faculty member in student’s field of study), 1 from recommender who supervised student’s research where applicable
From those who know student’s work WELL & can assess student’s personal characteristics, motivation & potential for a STEM research career
Best LORs come from faculty in the student’s field of study &/or from those who have supervised the student’s work in a research facility
Can have an LOR from a faculty member who can attest to other aspects of student’s academic/research career, potential, motivation, etc. BUT should not have more than 1 LOR from a non-STEM background

20. Recommendations, Con’t: LOR Instructions
Please evaluate the applicant's: Personal characteristics; Motivation; Potential for a career in STEM.
Your evaluation must address: Criteria on which you base your judgments & How the applicant meets your criteria.
Provide specific examples that illustrate the applicant's performance, maturity, initiative, and potential.

21. Recommendations, Con’t
Write a detailed letter up to 3-pages.
not an application for grad school or a job
Concentrate on motivation and potential for a research career.
‘A’ student is assumed
avoid ‘turned in assignments on time,’ etc.
avoid ‘how difficult my course is,’ etc.
OK for nominee to be a ‘nerd’
* Compare to other students who have gone on to PhD programs & research careers.
evaluation at comparable stage of applicant’s career

22. Campus Application Deadline: 9 December 2016
Complete campus version of the application—submit via our external scholarships website’s “submit materials” tab!!!!
Submit separate 3 page Research Essay as WORD document
Detailed CV/Resume (no page limit)
Provide names of Recommenders (provide recommenders with “Goldwater” instructions/advice found on our website)
Letters of Recommendation submitted to Dean Goldberg directly as WORD documents via
Signed Waiver/Release form found on “submit materials” tab

23. Campus Application, Con’t
Website has “Application Notes”/advice for applicants as well as for recommenders—Refer to these notes frequently!
Campus Selection Committee will nominate up to 4 candidates
Nominated candidates:
Revise application prior to official submission in January (expect multiple revisions)
Work closely with Dean Goldberg, Committee, and your faculty as you revise
Recommenders may be asked to modify/expand their original LORs to ensure content coincides with candidate’s responses

24. Official Deadline All Materials must be received by 27 January 2017
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Goldwater expects to receive over 1,200 applications
Approx scholars will be selected; approx. 150 may be honorable mentions [last year, 252 awards were granted; 4 were Lafayette students (3 Awards/1 HM!]
Approx. 4% chance of recognition (~25% A; ~16% HM)

25. Additional Benefits Attention from prestigious graduate schools
Opportunities for summer research from other institutions
Scholars & HMs have gone on to win Rhodes, Marshall, DAAD, Fulbright, NSF, NIH and other major fellowships