Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships Awarded to
Science Majors Kristina Gaff and Christian Millichap

Kristina Gaff '08 and Christian Millichap '08 received two of the 317 scholarships awarded for the 2007-2008 academic year to undergraduate sophomores and juniors from the United States. Goldwater scholars are selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,110 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.

Gaff, a physics major, is currently studying abroad at The Dickinson College University of Queensland Science Program in Brisbane , Australia . Prior to her departure, she had been working with Dickinson College Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Catrina Hamilton-Drager. Gaff also did a summer program with Dr. John Rodgers at the University of Maryland and she will be presenting the results of that work, along with Rodgers, at the International Vacuum Electronics Conference in Kiatkyushu , Japan, later this spring. Her career objectives are to obtain a Ph.D. in physics, conduct research in experimental chaos and nonlinear dynamics and teach at the university level.

Millichap, a mathematics and philosophy major, is currently participating in the prestigious Budapest Semesters in Mathematics at The Technical University of Budapest. Prior to his time studying abroad in Hungary , he was working with Nancy Baxter-Hastings, Dickinson College professor of mathematics and computer science and Theodore & Catherine Mathias Chair in Mathematics and Computer Science on the topic of measure theory and integration. Millichap's career ambitions are to complete a Ph.D. in mathematics, conduct research and teach college-level math.

“Dickinson's continued success with the Goldwater Scholars program is an indicator of the kind of student that we attract to the college,” said Michael S. Holden, professor of chemistry, Alfred Victor duPont Chair in Chemistry, and Dickinson College faculty representative for the the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program. “Goldwater applicants are all well-qualified, successful individuals and to be identified as a Goldwater Scholar shows an ability to articulate a passion about science and the capacity to present a vision for how science can be used as an instrument to solve problems in the future.  Clearly, our students excel at these endeavors.”

For their superior academic achievements, Gaff and Millichap were placed among scholars from Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Duke and Yale universities, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and the California Institute of Technology. In addition, recipients hailed from other top-ranked liberal-arts institutions including Pomona, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Davidson, Williams, Wellesley and Haverford colleges.

One hundred seventy-four of the Scholars are men, 143 are women, and virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their degree objective. Twenty-eight Scholars are mathematics majors, 223 are science and related majors, 54 are majoring in engineering, and 12 are computer science majors. Many of the Scholars have dual majors in a variety of mathematics, science, engineering, and computer disciplines and virtually all of the recipients intend to obtain a Ph.D.

The one and two year scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Goldwater Scholars have very impressive academic qualifications that have garnered the attention of prestigious post-graduate fellowship programs. Recent scholars have been awarded 69 Rhodes Scholarships (6 of the 32 awarded in the United States in 2006), 86 Marshall Awards (6 of the 44 awarded in the United States in 2006), and numerous other distinguished fellowships.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established by Public Law 99-661 on November 14, 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

In its nineteen-year history, the Foundation has awarded 5,202 scholarships worth approximately fifty-one million dollars. The Trustees plan to award about three hundred scholarships for the 2008-2009 academic year.