Established by Congress in 1986 to celebrate the life’s work of Senator Barry Goldwater as he was retiring from the Senate, the Goldwater Scholarship program, one of the oldest and most prestigious national scholarship programs in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics in the United States, seeks to identify, encourage, and financially support college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming this Nation’s next generation of research leaders in these fields. The characteristics the Foundation seeks in a Goldwater Scholar include: 1) a strong commitment to a research career in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering, 2) an effective display of intellectual intensity in these fields, and 3) the potential for a significant future contribution to research in their chosen field.
