Rising to the Top, Four Undergraduates Nominated for the Goldwater Scholarship

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship is a highly competitive, merit-based award for outstanding students in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering who are interested in pursuing careers in research. The premier award for undergraduate students in STEM fields, the scholarship was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, who showed a keen interest in science and technology during his 30 years in the U.S. Senate.

Northeastern University is honored to nominate four of its most distinguished undergraduate scientists and engineers for the 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Together, these students represent the best of Northeastern’s model of experiential education in a university focused on use-inspired research to solve pressing global challenges.

Rohan Chopra Khoury’26, Data Science and Biochemistry
Mentors: Alisa Lincoln, Winston Kennedy, Sameer Antani, Annika Marie Schoene, Archana Basu, Houman Javedan
Home State: Massachusetts
Rohan is a third-year Data Science and Biochemistry major passionate about developing data-driven tools to improve healthcare accessibility and long-term patient outcomes. His research lies at the intersection of public health and artificial intelligence, leveraging machine learning to address critical issues in healthcare, particularly in trauma-related outcomes, imaging-based risk prediction, and patient-centered clinical decision-making. In the era of personalized medicine, Rohan’s work emphasizes the role of AI and data science in identifying risk factors and intervention strategies to enhance medical decision-making and patient care. In addition to his work at Northeastern, Rohan has conducted research at the National Institutes of Health, Mass General Brigham, the Broad Institute, and the MIT Sloan School of Management, leading and contributing to projects focused on clinical workflow optimization, bias-free AI applications in medical imaging, and creating injury and fall risk prediction models. His interdisciplinary approach, spanning both on- and off-campus research, has resulted in multiple publications and secured numerous grants, including the PEAK Ascent, Summit, and Shout-it-Out awards. Outside of research, Rohan serves as a home health aide, the course director for a spiritual wellness program for young adults, a Northeastern PreHealth Student Ambassador, and a Khoury College Teaching Assistant. Additionally, he is the Vice President of the national board of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin’s Premedical Student Section.

Zachary Cohen COS’26, Chemistry
Mentors: Thomas Wales, Evan Williams, Jeffrey Agar
Home State: California
Zach is a third-year Chemistry major who is passionate about using mass spectrometry to solve problems in human health and disease. Zach began his career in mass spectrometry working in the lab of Professor Thomas Wales at Northeastern University. Here, he is working on analytical method development and creating new software systems to advance the utility of hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry– a tool to study protein conformation and dynamics – to increasingly complex systems. Last summer, Zach presented an application he created called HDXWizard at the annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry conference. He has been awarded multiple PEAK Summit awards to fund his research and is currently working on his honors thesis – studying how complex biological matrices affect the dynamics of amyloid prone antibodies, with the ultimate goal of understanding how life-saving drugs could be developed to target them. Zach recently completed his first co-op at Blueprint Medicines, where he worked in the drug discovery pipeline using mass spectrometry based proteomics to characterize the effects and mechanisms of action of targeted protein degraders. He plans to continue using mass spectrometry as a tool to answer biological questions as he pursues his PhD after graduation. Aside from his research, Zach is the secretary of the Northeastern University Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (NUSAACS) and the climbing chair of the Northeastern University Huskiers and Outing Club (NUHOC).

Lei Curtis COS’26, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Mentors: Katie Lotterhos, Ariek Norford
Home State: New York
Lei Curtis is an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major in Northeastern University’s Honors Program fascinated by the evolutionary history of vertebrates. Their passion started in elementary school with a class project on the narwhal whale and expanded over the years, keeping a handwritten journal of “Wildlife Info Page” entries that contained more than 150 animals by the time they started high school. They joined the Lotterhos lab in Summer 2024 using computational biology software to investigate chromosomal inversion evolution in Atlantic Cod. Here, they gained their first exposure to computational research and a new appreciation for genomic data, which they intend to use in the future stages of their career. After completing their undergraduate degree, they plan on pursuing a PhD in Evolutionary Biology, wanting to focus on systematics and phylogenetic relationships in a group of cartilaginous fish known as Chimaeras. They hope to shed light on the evolution of living species as well as their prehistoric relatives such as Helicoprion. Outside of academics, Lei is a member of Northeastern’s varsity Track & Field team, throwing over 46 feet in shotput (placing them #8 on Northeastern’s All Time Performance list) and over 140 feet in discus (placing them #10). They also serve as co-president of oSTEM at Northeastern, a club dedicate to creating an open environment for Northeastern’s LGBTQ students in STEM fields, and Speaker Development Lead of TEDxNortheasternU.

Eda Erdogmus COE’26, Bioengineering
Mentors: Alfredo Cardenas-Rivera, Wesley Nogueira Brandao, Madison Carpenter, Ana Brandao
Home state: Massachusetts
Eda is a third-year Honors Program Bioengineering student specializing in cellular engineering, with a strong interest in developing novel immuno-engineering approaches to combat neurodegenerative diseases. She began her research in the Northeastern OMNI Lab, led by Professor Abbas Yaseen, where she investigated non-pharmacological interventions for neurodegenerative diseases using advanced microscopy techniques. Her dedication to this work earned her PEAK Base Camp and Ascent awards to study how physical exercise can help preserve the neurovascular unit in murine models of Alzheimer’s Disease. To expand her expertise, Eda joined the lab of Dr. Oleg Butovsky at the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She explored the potential of Xenon inhalation therapy to beneficially modulate microglia and mitigate Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice. Through these experiences, she has developed a deep appreciation for the intersection of bioengineering, neuroscience, and immunology in tackling complex neurological disorders. She presented her work both on and off campus at Northeastern’s RISE and the Brigham Research Institute. In the future she intends to pursue a PhD in immuno-engineering to improve the lives of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. Outside the lab, she enjoys baking fresh bread and knitting hats for her two beloved cats.