Student wins prestigious Goldwater scholarship
uring his time in college, Sam Zelinka has taken up grading papers to help pay his way through college.
Now, the Materials Science and Engineering student will probably spend more time on his research and less time grading papers as the result of winning a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Zelinka, who will be a senior this fall, won the $7,500 scholarship this past spring after competing with more than 1,100 undergraduate students nationwide.
Congress established the scholarship in 1986 in honor of the late United States senator from Arizona to foster a continuing pool of highly qualified scientists, engineers and mathematicians.
The scholarship recognized one of the department’s outstanding undergraduate students. Zelinka has taken on several research projects at the U.S. Forest Product Laboratory on campus in addition to his regular coursework. He is part of the laboratory’s “condition assessment and rehabilitation team,” and has focused on wood engineering and mechanical properties. As part of his research, he has evaluated building codes, assessed the strength of nails used in wood manufacturing, and studied fastener corrosion.
Zelinka, who grew up in nearby Waunakee, Wisconsin, figured he go into the sciences when he went off to college. He always enjoyed math and science, and his father works as a chemist for the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District.
“He would always drag me along to work,” he says.
For Zelinka, the $7,500 scholarship eases his worries about how to pay for his last year in college. As for the future, he plans to pursue a PhD in the area of materials science.
“I don’t want to close any doors,’’ he says. “There are so many interesting things going on.”
