LAUNCH: National Fellowships congratulates Cody Martin ‘21 and Jonathan Lo ‘21 for their recognition in the 2020 Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation competition. Cody Martin, a biochemistry and genetics double major from Red Oak, Texas, and Jonathan Lo, a dual degree Cell and Molecular Biology and Statistics major from East Brunswick, NJ, have been named as Goldwater Scholarship Awardees.
Goldwater Scholarships are awarded to exceptional sophomore or junior undergraduates who intend to pursue research careers in mathematics, natural sciences, or engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.
The Goldwater Foundation gave its first award in 1989 and has bestowed more than $40 million worth of scholarships. Hundreds of scholarships are awarded each academic year to students who have impressive academic qualifications and merit, as the average awardee has a 3.9 GPA. The one- and two-year scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year. Texas A&M University has produced 48 Goldwater Scholars since 1991.
The most recent Goldwater Scholars: Oscar Gonzalez ’20 and Alison Vicary ’20
https://tamuhonors.wordpress.com/2019/06/11/two-aggies-selected-for-2019-goldwater-scholarships/
Cody Martin is a junior biochemistry and genetics double major with double minors in bioinformatics and statistics from Red Oak, TX. His interest in science was sparked when he began learning about the molecular and atomic worlds in high school. During his freshman year, he was selected to join the prestigious Beckman Scholars research program and immediately began working in Dr. Ry Young’s lab during the summer. In Dr. Young’s lab, he studies how bacteriophages escape from the bacterial host cell after infection in an explosive event called lysis. One project he worked on involved characterizing the prototype of a new class of lysis proteins called “disruptins” from the phage PhiKT. He is currently investigating the regulation of the unusual phage N4 lysis phenotype. After graduating in spring 2021, he plans to pursue a PhD in microbiology or a related field like molecular biology. His ultimate goal is to establish his own independent research lab dedicated to studying fundamental bacterial molecular biology.
Johnathan Lo is a junior at Texas A&M, earning dual degrees in Cell and Molecular Biology and Statistics. He hails from East Brunswick, NJ by way of Austin, and conducts research at the Blackmon Lab, where he investigates topics in quantitative genetics and evolutionary biology. His primary interests are creating computationally efficient bioinformatics software and applications of survival analysis and game theory in describing eusociality. Thus far, his research has resulted in two publications, including a featured first author, as well as four additional publications in progress, two of which will also be first authors. He is a member of the Biology Honors program, and is active in the TAMU Zoological Society and SUSA. Outside of research, he is an accomplished violinist, avid sportsman, and amateur competitive programmer. He plans on pursuing a PhD in mathematical and theoretical biology. To him, The Goldwater Scholarship represents an opportunity to free himself of financial burdens and devote himself more fully to his research.
To read more about how LAUNCH: National Fellowships 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, please visit http://natlfellows.tamu.edu.
From Promise to Achievement 