PITT UNDERGRADS WIN TOP SCIENCE AND MATH AWARDS

PITTSBURGH, April 8 -- Four University of Pittsburgh undergraduates have won Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships for 1998. No institution may nominate more than four Goldwater candidates, and this year, all four Pitt nominees for these prestigious scholarships were winners.

Recipients are: Louis E. DeFrate, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering; Kelly A. Foster, a junior Chancellor's Scholar majoring in biological sciences; Jonathan E. Holland, a sophomore majoring in mathematics; and Major K. Lee, IV, a junior Faison Scholar majoring in biological sciences.

The Goldwater Scholarship was established by Congress to recognize outstanding students in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. It is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields. Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field this year of 1,186 competitors nominated by colleges and universities nationwide.

"Because of the caliber of independent research that is required to win these coveted scholarships," says Alec Stewart, dean of the University Honors College and Pitt's Goldwater Scholarship representative, "our consistent record in winning them demonstrates the extent to which professional scholarship and educational initiative proceed apace at the University of Pittsburgh."

"The Goldwater Scholarship covers tuition, room and board, fees and books -- up to a maximum of $7,500 -- for each student's junior or senior year of study. Pitt undergrads have now won 16 Goldwater Scholarships since 1990.

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