索科罗,N.M. – A 生物学 major who has made major contributions to research projects as an undergraduate under the guidance of 365彩票在线过滤 faculty members has been selected for a prestigious 国家奖学金. 卡桑德拉Skaar, who attended Wake STEM Early College High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, is one of 413 recipients of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of three Goldwater Scholars from New Mexico universities in 2023. 提名 NMT Biology Department faculty members, Skaar has excelled in the classroom and is interested in pursuing graduate studies in micro生物学 with plans to seek a career 在专业环境中进行研究. 

Skaar, a junior who will graduate in 2024, has participated in multiple research projects 在NMT的本科生涯中. 她完成了她的第一个研究项目 在生物学教员的指导下. 卡琳·龚兹博士. 琳达·德沃斯 part of a class whose research focused on phages, novel viruses also called bacteriophages. Eight students who participated in the two-semester Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) curriculum during their freshman year are listed as authors on a genome announcement article published in the American Society for Micro生物学’s journal, Micro生物学 Resource Announcements. 

Skaar also participated in two micro生物学 projects under 生物学 Professor Tom Kieft, Ph.D. The first, funded by the National Park Service, focused on addressing the problem of unsightly algal and cyanobacterial growth in Carlsbad Caverns. 对于第二个项目， Skaar worked on isolating and characterizing viruses from deep (3 km), ancient (1.2 billion-year-old) brine collected in South Africa as part of an National Science Foundation-funded 极深地下水的地球微生物学项目.

“Cassandra is very deserving of this academic honor,” said Dr. Kieft. “她很棒 学生和天才研究员. 她已经和人合著了一篇科学论文 an undergraduate and she's been accepted into 365彩票在线过滤's Accelerated Masters 程序. 卡桑德拉将在她的科学生涯中走得更远."

The 奖学金 program honoring the late Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers in the fields 自然科学，工程学和数学.