Five Penn students were named 2025 Goldwater Scholars and will receive as much as $7,500 annually for up to two years of undergraduate study.
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship & Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 441 students scholarships from across 445 academic institutions in the United States. Among those are College juniors Tristen Brisky, Caitlyn Chen, Kason Kunkelmann, and Nayoon Justina Lee as well as College and Engineering junior Colby Snyder.
Brisky is majoring in mathematics with a minor in economics and sub-matriculating for a master’s degree in mathematics. He works as a learning assistant for introductory calculus and has completed several independent reading projects under the supervision of Penn math professors.
Brisky’s research projects have focused on operators algebra and category theory, although his long-term interest is in the Langlands program, an intricate set of conjectures connecting various areas of mathematics.
Chen is majoring in biochemistry, biophysics, and chemistry, and submatriculating for a master’s degree in biotechnology and chemistry. Chen conducts research in the MicroSensors and MicroActuators Lab under Engineering professor Mark Allen, where she focuses on developing microsensors that harness biochemical tools to diagnose neuromuscular disorders. She is a volunteer at the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania, patient navigator with the Center for Surgical Health, and the managing editor for Penn Bioethics Journal. After graduation, she plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. in bioengineering.
Kunkelmann is majoring in physics and mathematics and submatriculating for a master’s degree in both subjects. He has conducted research under Physics professor Eugene Mele on theoretical condensed matter physics research, and also conducted partial differential equations research at Cornell. Currently, he is also conducting research under Physics and Astronomy professor Jonathan Heckman on complexified path integrals and their application to conformal field theories.
After graduation, Kunkelmann plans to pursue a Ph.D. in theoretical and mathematical high-energy physics.
Nayoon Justina Lee is majoring in physics with a concentration in chemical principles and a minor in chemistry. She is submatriculating for a master’s degree in medical physics at the Perelman School of Medicine. Lee is the president of the Society of Physics Students, a residential advisor in Harrison College House, a physics lab learning assistant, a Weingarten tutor, and a research peer advisor at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.
In addition, she volunteers in the pediatric intensive care unit at CHOP. Lee was also a recipient of the 2024 American Association for Physicists in Medicine Summer Undergraduate Fellowship.
Colby Snyder is majoring in physics and chemical engineering in the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research. Snyder conducts research under Russell Composto and has published peer-reviewed articles on polymer electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries. Currently, Snyder collaborates with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability in the research of coating materials to address the urban-heat-island effect.
He is also a representative for the Penn Engineering Council, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the VIPER Student Board. He is also an undergraduate fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and cellist in the Penn Symphony Orchestra.
68 Penn students have been named Goldwater Scholars since the United States Congress established the award in 1968 in honor of former Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) The scholarship is awarded to those planning research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.
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