CSE student receives prestigious national Goldwater Scholarship

Scholarship is worth up to $7,500 for students in their senior year

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (03/31/2020)—College of Science and Engineering student Henry Twiss, a junior majoring in mathematics, is one of two students at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities to receive the prestigious national Goldwater Scholarship from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Aditya Shekhar, a junior pursuing an inter-college degree program, is the other University of Minnesota student receiving the honor.

Twiss and Shekhar will receive scholarships worth up to $7,500 for their senior years. This prestigious, competitive scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research-oriented careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. This year, 396 students were recognized as Goldwater Scholars out of 1,280 nominees from 461 colleges and universities nationwide.

Twiss, who grew up in Minneapolis, has been working with Mathematics Professor Adrian Diaconu, a 2020 Simons Fellow, on a conjecture concerning the asymptotics of moments of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions. In the process, he developed a recursive argument to compute the real roots of the Kac-Moody Lie algebra. Twiss also participates with U of M Twin Cities Ph.D. student Andrew Hardt in the School of Mathematics’ Directed Reading Program that pairs undergraduate math majors with graduate students to read advanced mathematical texts.

Last year Twiss was recognized by the School of Mathematics with its William H. Burgum Scholarship, which recognizes exceptional undergraduate achievement in mathematics and contributions to the program. Twiss plans to complete a Ph.D. in pure mathematics specializing in algebraic and analytic number theory and differential geometry.

Shekhar, also from Minneapolis, is completing a self-designed Inter-College bachelor of science that combines psychology, public health and applied business. As a high school sophomore, he began research on heart disease with Dr. Jagat Narula of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Currently, Shekhar has been conducting neuroscience research with Professor Timothy Ebner at the University of Minnesota since enrolling in 2018. His research includes studies of cardiac cell death and cortical network imaging in mice. In addition, Shekhar has completed independent research in emergency medical technology and care, and he has two provisional patents on medical equipment. Shekhar is also a volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT) with the Cannon Falls Fire Department and has appeared as an EMT on the TV show “Chicago Fire.” He plans to complete a M.D./Ph.D. program. Shekhar plans to devote his career to addressing heart disease.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U. S. Senate. Since the inception of the program, 67 undergraduates at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have been named Goldwater Scholars.

University of Minnesota Twin Cities students who are interested in applying for the scholarship in the future may consult the Office of National and International Scholarships by visiting the University Honors Program Scholarship Information webpage or by contacting Timothy Jones at natschol@umn.edu.

For more information on the Goldwater Scholarship, visit The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation website.