Goldwater scholars from left to right: Aidan Li, Sean Wang, and Makenna Fluegel (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

Juniors Aidan Li, Makenna Fluegel, and Sean Wang were selected for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship — an annual $7,500 scholarship awarded to 438 undergraduates nationwide that recognizes exceptional undergraduates planning to pursue a PhD in science, math, or engineering — April 5.

Li, Fluegel, and Wang first earned one of the University’s four nominations after being selected by a committee of STEM faculty at WashU, and they were then selected from a pool of approximately 1,200 nominees across the nation. Applicants had to answer questions about their current research, future career plans, and background.

Li, a Chemistry Major, focused his application on his research on the underlying causes behind neurodevelopmental disorders, which he does in Harrison Gabel’s lab at the Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM). He started his research during the fall of his sophomore year and has since been published in the scientific journal Molecular Cell. 

Initially, Li did not know about the Goldwater Scholarship and said that he applied for the award at the last minute.

“In the beginning, I didn’t even know Goldwater existed,” Li said. “I actually got emailed by the Chemistry Department, and [they] told me, ‘You should apply for this.’”

Li said just going for research, just like he did for the Goldwater Scholarship and in his own research experience, is the most valuable advice he can give to future undergraduate researchers.

“You don’t really know how [research] is until you actually go into research and see what kind of work they put in and how they figure out these types of [science] questions,” Li said.

Li hopes to pursue an MD/PhD, an aspiration that fellow Goldwater scholar Fluegel shares. 

Fluegel, a Biology Major on the neuroscience track, is a first-generation student from Sedalia, Missouri, where she did not have much access to scientific education.

“I always felt science and knowledge was just underrepresented in the sphere of school,” Fluegel said. “When I got plugged into this amazing research institution, I was like, ‘I have to try.’”

Fluegel entered college intent on only pursuing an MD, but her experience in Robert Gereau’s lab at WUSM helped her realize that she also wanted to pursue a PhD.

Fluegel submitted her research about whether cannabinoids, which are derived from cannabis, can be a less-addictive alternative to opioids for chronic pain. Fluegel is also working on developing a model in mice to understand the pain experienced by those who have endometriosis — a condition where the uterus lining grows outside of the uterus — which is characterized by severe pelvic pain. 

Fluegel said that her work in endometriosis has pushed her to consider researching chronic pain in women in the future. 

“I’m realizing how important it is to study women’s health, because it’s really neglected,” Fluegel said. “There’s not a lot of money that goes to funding any women’s health research, and procedures that are done for women are understudied.”

Wang, a Biochemistry Major also pursuing a master’s in biochemical engineering through an accelerated program, hopes to create diagnostic testing that is accessible and affordable in the future.

For the Goldwater Scholarship, Wang submitted the research he conducted in Srikanth Singamaneni’s lab in the McKelvey School of Engineering, where he worked on making COVID-19 tests more accessible and affordable by amalgamating techniques from inorganic chemistry, optical physics, and synthetic biology. 

“Imagine if you [could] do that for any virus, bacteria, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer,” Wang said. “You could ship this [diagnostic test] anywhere in the world to test for any disease hopefully imaginable.”

Wang published his work in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, and has since moved on to the Rheumatology Department at WUSM to explore if DNA sequencing can help predict autoimmune disorders.

Wang said reading scientific literature helped him throughout his research journey.

“It’s all about just reading in different fields and just immersing yourself in enough information that you can apply in the future,” Wang said. “Especially when you get to college, you start to actually see the connections between what you learn in class and then what you read on the side.”

Wang hopes to pursue a PhD in Materials Immunology in the future and further research how immune cells interact with various molecules.

In a statement to Student Life, Brooke Taylor — the Assistant Dean of Advising and someone who guides Goldwater Scholarship applicants throughout the application process — said Li, Fluegel, and Wang were one of many of the impressive candidates who applied to be nominated by the University.

“We are lucky to have many talented students here,” Taylor wrote. “[Li], [Fluegel], and [Wang] are all fantastic examples of students who are academically excellent, have already demonstrated their commitment to research, and have remarkable potential to contribute in really amazing ways to research in their particular scientific fields.”

To Fluegel, the Goldwater scholarship is a testament to the hard work she has put into her research.

“It’s recognition for all the hard work I’ve put in, coming from a small town,” Fluegel said. “I just feel like being able to come to WashU from that environment, dive into science, and […] show a physical record of my accomplishment that I’ve made here through all the hard work that I put into [the scholarship application] and all the hard work before that is really meaningful.”