Kaitlin Dunn of Penfield Named Goldwater Scholar at Clarkson University

2016 May 5

Kaitlin J. Dunn of Penfield, N.Y., a junior double majoring in physics & electrical engineering, was named a Goldwater Scholar for the spring 2016 semester at Clarkson University.

Dunn is a member of the Honors Program and since her freshman year she has conducted research at Clarkson under Coulter School of Engineering Dean William Jemison and Ph.D. candidate Luke Rumbaugh. Her work on using modulated lasers underwater has included advancing the development of an underwater lidar-based imaging system. Last summer, she conducted research in quantum optics at the Friedrich-Alexander Universitat in Erlangen, Germany, through a research internship granted by the DAAD RISE program. This summer, Dunn will research the effects of forward scattering on the frequency response of modulated lasers at the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Md., through the NREIP program. She plans to earn a Ph.D. in optical engineering and conduct research in applied optics at a research university.

Including this year's scholars, 33 Clarkson University students have received this highly coveted award since the scholarships were first awarded in 1989. This is the 17th consecutive year that at least one Clarkson student has received a Goldwater Scholarship.

The Goldwater Scholarship is the most prestigious award in the United States given to undergraduates studying in mathematics, science and engineering. It is given to sophomores and juniors who demonstrate "outstanding potential." There were only 252 scholarships awarded for the 2016-2017 academic year.

Clarkson is one of the top five colleges and universities for the number of Goldwater Scholars in the past five years in New York state and one of only 26 institutions nationwide to win a Goldwater every year since 2005.

Clarkson's Honors Program is an intensive four-year curriculum for exceptionally talented students. The University admits only 40 new students to the Honors Program each year.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in 1986. The scholarship program honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.

Clarkson University educates the leaders of the global economy. One in five alumni already leads as an owner, CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. With its main campus located in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the Capital Region and Beacon, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university with signature areas of academic excellence and research directed toward the world's pressing issues. Through more than 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, education, sciences and the health professions, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo and connect discovery and innovation with enterprise.