texas a&m university junior biology major joseph chen 23 has been named a 2022 goldwater scholar by the goldwater scholarship foundation in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and research potential chen and texas a&m senior psychology major maria ibarra noriega 23 earned selection by the barry goldwater scholarship and excellence in education foundation for the nations most prestigious award presented to undergraduates who intend to pursue research careers in mathematics natural sciences or engineering each award provides up to $7 500 per year to help students cover costs associated with tuition fees books and room and board chen and ibarra noriega are among 417 recipients including 24 from the state of texas selected this year from an estimated pool of more than 5 000 applicants across the country a total of 54 texas a&m students have achieved the coveted honor since the program issued its first award in 1989 including 20 from the college of science to date the goldwater scholarship foundation has bestowed more than $40 million in scholarships chen a native of houston is pursuing a minor in computer science along with his major in biology since december 2019 he has been a member of dr jennifer dulins laboratory in the texas a&m department of biology where he also has been mentored by postdoctoral researcher dr miriam aceves a 2011 psychology and 2017 phd neuroscience graduate of texas a&m chens current research project focuses on studying neural progenitor cells and how isolating them at different embryonic time points can assist in connectivity and functional recovery for spinal cord injuries he has presented his research effects of developmental restriction on neural progenitor cell differentiation in vitro on three separate occasions at texas a&m: the texas a&m students for neuroscience winter symposium (dec 2020) student research week (march 2021) and the college of medicine graduate student organization research symposium (april 2021) joseph is one of the best and brightest of the texas a&m biology undergraduate program and a shining star in my lab said dulin 05 an assistant professor and tirr foundation fellow at texas a&m since 2017 through his ingenuity and coding skills he has truly changed the playing field for the image analysis that we do very routinely in my lab joseph conceived of and implemented his project almost totally independently with minimal input from me to address an area of significant need in our research this is the kind of initiative that one hopes to see in high-performing graduate students but is very rarely seen in undergraduates as an active member of launch: undergraduate research and an undergraduate research ambassador chen encourages undergraduates to get involved in research as early as possible this summer he plans to explore how neurons are associated by functional groups while working with drs carmen dessauer and edgar walters at the university of texas health science center at houston after graduating from texas a&m next year he plans to pursue a phd in neurology or neurotrauma and an md specializing in neurosurgery in order to conduct research on clinical neural progenitor cell transplantation and teach at a medical school to anyone who doesnt believe in themselves those age-old clichés telling you to follow your dreams and believe in yourself are the truest words ever spoken chen said if you have a passion chase it endlessly and believe that you are good enough to be great and great enough to be amazing and youll be surprised how far youll go! chen and ibarra noriega were nominated for the goldwater scholarship along with two additional texas a&m students senior biomedical engineering major anita sumali 23 and senior applied mathematics major william frendreiss 23 by a faculty-staff committee organized by launch: national fellowships at texas a&m university the goldwater foundation was established by congress in 1986 to serve as a living memorial to honor the lifetime work of senator barry goldwater who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman including 30 years in the us senate to read more about how launch helps prepare outstanding students to compete for nationally competitive awards such as the goldwater scholarship with the generous support of the association of former students visit http://natlfellowstamuedu # # # # # # # # # # about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is at the forefront in making significant contributions to scholarship and discovery including in science and technology research conducted at texas a&m generated annual expenditures of more than $113 billion in fiscal year 2020 and ranked 14th in the national science foundations higher education research and development survey texas a&ms research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit research@texas a&m