(Posted April 17, 2006)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Meara Kauffman, a junior from Reedsville, Pa. at Juniata College studying chemistry, has been chosen to receive the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Students selected for this scholarship are chosen based on academic merit from the fields of mathematics, science and engineering.

Kauffman, the daughter of Thomas and Nancy Kauffman, will apply the $7,500 scholarship to tuition for her senior year at Juniata.

Kauffman was chosen from a field of 1,081 students from hundreds of colleges and universities. This year, 323 scholarships were awarded.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established by Public Law 99-661 in 1986. The scholarship program honoring the late Sen. Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.

Kauffman has participated in a variety of research projects during her time at Juniata. She worked with Richard Hark, associate professor of chemistry, during her freshman year, working on the antibacterial compound triclosan. In the summer of her sophomore year, 2005, she worked on a research team investigating conducting polymers at Carnegie Mellon University with Richard McCullough, professor of chemistry. This summer, she will travel to the University of Hawaii to study natural marine products.

In March, she presented her research project on reagents for fingerprinting technology at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlanta, Ga.

Kauffman has worked as a lab teaching assistant for Professor Hark and also as a Juniata College tour guide. She is a member of the Juniata College Concert Choir, the Phi Alpha Service Club, the Chemistry Club and Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.