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April 14, 2009

Trinity University Physics Major Earns Recognition as Goldwater Scholar

SAN ANTONIO – A physics major at Trinity University has been named a Goldwater Scholar for the 2009-2010 academic year.  Megan Holtz, a junior from Lubbock, conducts research on photovoltaic, or solar, cells and plans to pursue a doctorate in the field.

She becomes the 19^th Trinity student to be named a Goldwater Scholar since 1995. Trinity nominated four scholars, and one of them, Lindsey Handley of Katy, Texas, received an honorable mention from the Goldwater Foundation.

Ms. Holtz is completing an honors project focusing on ways to increase energy absorption of sunlight by organic voltaic cells as a way to reduce global warming and thus, address the energy crisis. In conducting her research, she has worked with Trinity physics professors Gordon MacAlpine and Jennifer Steele. Ms. Holtz is president this spring of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and was inducted into the campus chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society. While taking part in an undergraduate research program in the nanoscience center at Texas Tech University, she authored a paper that was published in the Journal of Applied Physics.   

Ms. Handley, who is majoring in chemistry with a minor in Latin, would like to study biochemistry in graduate school in the area of genetic disorders. At Trinity, she has presented research at the American Chemical Society conference in Salt Lake City and has won the John A. Burke Award for Achievement in Inorganic Chemistry from Trinity’s chemistry department.

Both students are interested in teaching at the university level. 

Professor Peter Kelly-Zion, associate professor of engineering science and Trinity's faculty adviser to the Goldwater Scholarship, called the scholarship “very prestigious and competitive.”

“All four of Trinity’s nominees are exceptional students who make me proud to be associated with Trinity,” he

 said. “Having a Trinity student selected as a Goldwater Scholar and another student recognized as an honorable mention reflects foremost on the great abilities of Megan and Lindsey, but also, I think it reflects generally on the high caliber of students at Trinity.”

The other two nominees from Trinity for this year’s Goldwater Scholarship were David Stück of Valparaiso, Ind., who is a double major in chemistry and mathematics, and Timothy Satterfield of Houston, who is a double major in physics and economics.

Trustees of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Foundation awarded 278 scholarships in March to outstanding sophomores and juniors majoring in the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering science.  The scholarship is for a maximum of $7,500 to cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, or room and board.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in honor of former Arizona Sen. Barry M. Goldwater.  The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields. In its 21-year history, the Foundation has awarded 5,801 scholarships worth approximately $56 million.

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