Scholarship Story: Michael O’Connor ’22

Michael O’Connor ’22

Michael O’Connor ’22 (biochemistry)

Barry Goldwater Scholarship

The Goldwater Scholarship is given to sophomore or junior undergraduate students who intend to go to graduate school in a STEM field and show promising development in their undergraduate studies. The scholarship provides funding of up to $7,500 for the next two years of college for sophomore recipients, and the next one year of college for awarded juniors.

My research adviser thought I had a very good chance of receiving the scholarship, and she nominated me to apply. The scholarship will help pay for my senior year and will significantly help when I apply to graduate school programs.

The application entailed writing a well-researched proposal for a project I would conduct in my future schooling or career. There were about 1,200 applicants, and 410 students were selected for the scholarship.

I would like to be able to use the scholarship to accelerate my career in the field of biochemistry. I would like to go to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry and eventually work for a pharmaceutical company, helping to discover and develop novel drug treatments. 

I chose biochemistry as my major because I really liked biology, but I wanted to know more about how the systems we learned about worked at the molecular level. Biochemistry provides the answers to many of the questions that arose when I took biology classes.

Anticipated highlight of the experience: The highlight of this experience is probably going to be the satisfaction of achieving my goal of getting a Ph.D. in biochemistry. I am very excited about receiving this scholarship because it makes me feel like my hard work, long nights of studying, and working through the weekends and breaks has paid off. I am particularly excited about being able to network with other Goldwater Scholars, which will be invaluable in my future career. This scholarship is a tremendous honor to receive.

How will the experience benefit you in the future? This scholarship will help me stand out when I am applying for graduate school programs, as it shows that I have been recognized for excelling in the field of biochemistry in my undergraduate studies.