{"81681":{"#nid":"81681","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Roomies Win Prestigious Goldwater Scholarship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo Georgia Tech roommates are winners of this year\u0027s prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Mathematics major Thomas Callaghan and Materials Science and Engineering student Mark Oliver will both receive up to $7,500 for next year\u0027s tuition, fees and room and board at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe pair, who were born only four days apart, met the summer before their freshman year at a retreat for President\u0027s Scholarship winners and lived down the hall from each other that first year. They\u0027ve been friends ever since. \u0022We joke that we\u0027re going to go to Stanford together, although Mark has been getting more interested in Berkeley lately,\u0022 said Callaghan.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBeing so close, it was a bit intimidating applying for the same scholarship, said Callaghan. \u0022I was kind of scared that I had to compete against him,\u0022 he said. Mark, however, was a bit bolder. \u0022I was confident that we\u0027d both get the Georgia Tech nomination,\u0022 he replied. They both agreed that Tech\u0027s emphasis on undergraduate research has been key to their success.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOliver has been busy researching composite materials for the next generation of space vehicles in Materials Science and Engineering Professor Steven Johnson\u0027s lab. Using plastics reinforced with carbon fibers instead of metal saves a lot of weight, but the trick is that they have to perform well in extreme conditions. \u0022We\u0027re studying how the materials perform at cryogenic and elevated temperatures,\u0022 he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJohnson said Oliver has been a vital part of his lab team. \u0022He\u0027s very enthusiastic about aerospace materials. He\u0027s done very good research as an undergraduate and really wants to understand how things work.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECallaghan has been conducting research with Mathematics Assistant Professor Peter Mucha. The two were puzzled by college football\u0027s Bowl Championship Series (BCS) ranking system and wondered if a bunch of simulated monkeys could rank the top teams at least as well as the expert coaches, professional sportswriters and the BCS system. Together with Visiting Assistant Professor Mason Porter, they tested their theory through a mathematical formula and produced results mirroring those of the experts. The project was profiled in media outlets such as Nature, ESPN magazine and CNN Headline News. Mucha credited Callaghan\u0027s initiative and hard work for the project\u0027s success.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECallaghan said he\u0027s drawn to math because it\u0027s the foundation for a wide range of disciplines. \u0022I like knowing why things work. Math is the language of problem solving. All of physics, chemistry and engineering are based on math.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth said they plan to continue pursuing undergraduate research next year. They will be roommates once again.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThis year the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 310 scholarships out of a field of 1,113 applicants from the United States and Puerto Rico. The Scholarship Program, honoring former Arizona 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.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Two Georgia Tech roommates, Thomas Callaghan and Mark Oliver, are winners of this year\u0027s prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2004-04-23 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:58","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2004-04-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2004-04-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"81691":{"id":"81691","type":"image","title":"Mark Oliver","body":null,"created":"1449178079","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:59","changed":"1475894698","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:58"},"81701":{"id":"81701","type":"image","title":"Thomas Callaghan","body":null,"created":"1449178079","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:59","changed":"1475894698","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:58"}},"media_ids":["81691","81701"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.act.org\/goldwater\/","title":"Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}