TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program has selected three University of Alabama students as Goldwater Scholars for 2019-2020.
The selections bring to 56 the number of UA students who have received Goldwater scholarships.
The three UA students are:
Thomas “Hank” Richards is a physics and mathematics major and Randall Research Scholar from San Antonio, Texas. At UA, he has worked under Dr. Igor Ostrovskiy, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, with the EXO-200 project, an experimental search for a hypothetical form of exotic nuclear decay called neutrinoless double beta decay. His role in the project is to use deep machine learning methods to search for signals of this decay. Outside of UA, he completed a nuclear physics research project at Vanderbilt University in summer 2018 under Dr. Joseph Hamilton. His parents are Michael and Beth Richards.
Ryan Tuckey is a third-year undergraduate from Middletown, Maryland, and is the vice president of the Alabama Undergraduate Research Association and a Research Ambassador at UA. His parents are Taraneh and Brian Tuckey, and he has come to UA with 1.5 years of research experience from the National Cancer Institute. While working at NCI, Tuckey was able to contribute to a publication in the journal Nature and also has recently been published as a co-author in Disease Models and Mechanisms from work done during the three years he has worked in the Caldwell Laboratory at UA.
Peyton Strickland is a junior from Pelham pursuing his Bachelor and Master of Science in aerospace engineering and mechanics. He has conducted research under the advisement of Dr. Semih Olcmen, professor in aerospace engineering, since the spring of his freshman year. His work, sponsored by The MITRE Corp., investigates the use of a low-cost K-band communication satellite constellation to meet our nation’s low Earth orbit space object communication needs. Outside of research, Strickland is a volunteer C++ coding instructor at Central High School, UA American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics president-elect and a member of the Alabama Rocketry Association’s Project ARES.
Scholarships of up to $7,500 a year are provided to help recipients cover costs associated with tuition, mandatory fees, books and room and board.
Contact
Richard LeComte, Department of Communications, 205-348-3782, richard.lecomte@ua.edu