Matthew Liptak, a junior at Hamilton College, has been named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar for the 2002-03 academic year. The scholarship is the premier national undergraduate award in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. He has also been selected as a Pfizer Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow. That will enable Liptak to devote full-time effort to his research project for an eight to 10 week period this summer, and will culminate with a poster presentation at Pfizer's Global Research & Development Laboratories in Groton, Conn., in October.
Liptak, a chemistry major at Hamilton, plans to pursue a Ph.D. before going on to a career focused on further research in physical chemistry. He is the third Hamilton chemistry student in two years to win a Goldwater Scholarship.
The Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering and to foster excellence in those fields.
The Goldwater Scholars are selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,155 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. This year 309 scholarships were awarded. The one and two-year scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year. The Foundation, in its 14-year history, has awarded 3,632 scholarships worth approximately $36 million.
Liptak, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Denis Liptak of Appleseed Drive in Westborough, is a graduate of Westboro High School. A Dean's List student at Hamilton, he is the recipient of a William M. Bristol Jr. Scholarship, the highest Hamilton College award given to entering students, based on academics, proficiency in communication and citizenship. He is also the recipient of a Merck/AAAS USRP Summer Research Grant, and a Bristol-Myers Summer Research Grant. Since 2000 he has performed computational chemistry research with Hamilton Chemistry Professor George Shields.
