Congratulations to Christopher Zhou, Chemistry TAMS students working with Dr. Thomas Cundari's Research Group, for being one of 2 UNT recipients of the 2020 Goldwater Scholarship Award. With the added guidance of Catherine Moulder, a Chemistry graduate student working in the Cundari Research Group, Christopher 'studied "the catalytic potential of first-row transition metals via density functional theory and ab initio computational methods." He is first author of an article in the journal ACS Omega, in which he has made new contributions to the field of organometallic chemistry. Christopher was an Early-Research Scholars in the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science.' - James Duban, TAMS Associate Dean for Research and National Scholarship

Dr. Sushama Dandekar, Senior Lecturer in the Chemistry Department, was also instrumental in Christopher's success in receiving the Goldwater Scholarship.

In the past, nominees were judged against nominees from their own state. This year, nominees were judged against nominees from around the nation in the same fields of research.

According to the Goldwater Foundation website, "The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation was established by Congress in 1986 to serve as a living memorial to honor the lifetime work of Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate."

The complete list of 2020 Goldwater Scholarship Award recipients by Institution State includes a brief description of each recipient's career goals.