La Vista’s Sarah Altman earns Goldwater Scholarship

Sarah Altman, a junior majoring in organic methods engineering on the College of Nebraska–Lincoln, has earned a Goldwater Scholarship to help her pursuit of a analysis profession.

A La Vista native, Altman has carried out analysis by way of Nebraska’s Undergraduate Inventive Actions and Analysis Experiences program and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being’s INBRE Students program. Her work consists of laboratory experiences with Jung Yul Lim at Nebraska, investigating breast most cancers metastasis; Shi-Hua Xiang at Nebraska, investigating remedies in opposition to RNA viruses; and Maneesh Jain on the College of Nebraska Medical Heart, investigating vaccines for pancreatic most cancers.

Altman, who can also be a member of the College Honors Program, hopes to earn a doctoral diploma in biomedical engineering and work in genetic engineering and biomaterials — making use of that information to most cancers immunotherapy applied sciences. She stated she desires to work at a college, educating college students, conducting analysis and maybe patenting some applied sciences.

Altman stated she is happy in regards to the alternative to advance most cancers immunotherapy.

“(The sphere) is so new and quickly increasing, so I actually do have a chance, particularly with the assistance of the Goldwater Scholarship, to be on the forefront and work with applied sciences as they’re being developed and improved,” she stated.

Altman stated she hopes her analysis will assist enhance public well being. Whereas there isn’t a remedy for most cancers, she stated immunotherapy methods maintain lots of promise.

“My analysis efforts, and the efforts of everyone within the discipline and past, can work towards creating these huge, tangible impacts for public well being,” she stated.

Altman is amongst 417 school sophomores and juniors nationally who had been awarded 2022 Goldwater Scholarships from a pool of 1,242 pure science, engineering and arithmetic college students nominated by 433 tutorial establishments.

The scholarship, which honors the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, was designed to foster and encourage excellent college students to pursue analysis careers within the pure sciences, engineering and arithmetic. The scholarship supplies as much as $7,500 per yr for instructional bills and is the pre-eminent undergraduate award of its sort in these fields.

At Nebraska, the Workplace of Nationwide and Worldwide Fellowships advises and nominates undergraduate candidates for 30 supported scholarships and fellowships. To be taught extra, college students and campus group members could contact Courtney Santos, director of nationwide and worldwide fellowships, at courtney.santos@unl.edu.