Joining a select group of students nationwide, Nick Stam has received the most prestigious honor given to an undergraduate student in math, science or engineering: a Goldwater Scholarship.
He’s already gotten a real-world taste of what research is all about, working with Dr. Beth Mitchell, a biology professor at Le Moyne, studying flagellar motility in the model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, defects in which have been linked to a wide variety of human diseases. And last summer in a lab at SUNY-ESF he conducted research on developing a more cost-effective biodegradable plastic.
Stam plans to obtain an M.D./Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, ultimately conducting research in biomedical science, as well as teaching at the university level. He is thrilled at the thought of how the award will help him attain those goals.
“This scholarship will open many additional doors to graduate school and other opportunities,” Stam says. “I am excited to see where this takes me!”