Three Penn Engineers Receive Goldwater Scholarships

Three third-year Penn Engineering undergraduates have received 2026 Goldwater Scholarships, awarded to students planning research careers in the sciences, engineering and mathematics.

They are among the 454 students named Goldwater Scholars, out of more than 5,000 nominees by 482 academic institutions in the United States, according to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship & Excellence in Education Foundation.

The students applied for the Goldwater Scholarship with assistance from Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF).

Emily Valerio (CBE’27)

Valerio, of The Woodlands, Texas, is majoring in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a concentration in Pharmaceutics and Biotechnology in Penn Engineering.

She conducts cancer evolution research, exploring how cells circumvent cancerous mutations and how mechanisms can be leveraged for treatments.

Valerio also serves as president of Penn’s Engineering Deans’ Advisory Board. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical engineering to design advanced therapeutics for under-researched diseases and advocate for equitable research funding.

Shreya Nair (C’27, GEng’27)

Nair, from Allen, Texas, is majoring in Biology in the College of Arts & Sciences, minoring in Engineering Entrepreneurship within Penn Engineering, and submatriculating for a master’s degree in Bioengineering.

She conducts research at Penn Medicine, in the laboratory of Ben Z. Stanger, Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research, where she is mentored by Minh Than, Research Fellow in Hematology and Oncology, and at MD Anderson Cancer Center, under the mentorship of Professor Michael Andreeff.

At Penn, Nair serves as a research peer advisor for CURF, is a member of the Department of Biology’s student advisory committee, and participates in the Venture Lab and Wharton Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Club, where she is building her startup. She plans to pursue graduate studies in cancer engineering.

Ian Peng (BE’27, GEng’27)

Peng, from Arcadia, California, is majoring in Bioengineering and enrolled in the department’s accelerated master’s program.

He works in the lab of ophthalmologist Lucie Guo, where he is building synthetic biology tools for precision medicine and dynamic gene therapies.

Peng is vice president of the Biomedical Engineering Society and serves on the boards of Grey Matters — Penn’s undergraduate neuroscience journal — and the Penn Immunology Club. He plans to pursue an M.D.-Ph.D. in bioengineering.

Read More at Penn Today

Pictured above, from left: Emily Valerio (CBE’27), Shreya Nair (C’27, GEng’27) and Ian Peng (BE’27, GEng’27).