Two Haverford Students Recognized By Goldwater Foundation For Excellence in Science

Two students—both with research interests in nanotechnology—have joined the ever-growing list of Haverford scholars recognized by the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Foundation, which awards annual scholarships to outstanding undergraduates planning to pursue careers in science and mathematics. Martin Blood-Forsythe '10 has been named a 2009 Goldwater Scholar, while Brian Pepe-Mooney '10 is a Goldwater Honorable Mention.

Blood-Forsythe, a physics major, began his research career in high school, collaborating with his biology teacher and two other students on an environmental research grant to study water quality in the West and Williams Rivers in Vermont. While at Haverford, Blood-Forsythe has been a research assistant in Associate Professor of Physics Walter Smith's nanoscale physics lab, and this summer he will work with Associate Professor of Physics Stephon Alexander on a cosmology-related project.

Last summer, Blood-Forsythe worked in the nanoscale chemistry and applied physics lab of assistant professor Jiwoong Park at the Cornell University Center for Materials Research (CCMR) as a participant in the REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program. Blood-Forsythe says Park's research on semiconductor nanowire devices interested him because of the potential photovoltaic (converting sunlight into energy) applications of such devices.“Ultimately my career goal is to do research in alternative and renewable energy technology, so this felt applicable,” he says.

Chemistry major Pepe-Mooney has been assisting Associate Professor of Biology Rob Fairman in developing photoelectronically conductive nanowires (tiny electric conductors); this opportunity was funded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.“[These have] great potential in the fields of medicine and material engineering and they may even one day be used as the basis for the development of biological nano-sensors or biological computers,” says Pepe-Mooney, who will continue working with Fairman this summer and, in August, will present his research in California at the conclusion of the Beckman Scholars program.

-Brenna McBride