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Madison GowettGoldwater Nominee and undergraduate Researcher |
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This week, we’re celebrating the work of one of Binghamton’s exceptional Goldwater nominees, Madison Gowett. Beginning in her freshman year with the FRI program, she has studied microbial biofilms in several labs both on and off campus. Moving forward, Gowett is planning to participate in an REU (Research For Undergraduates) this summer at Brown University and soon will be applying to graduate school. She explains that, with the help of the Goldwater representative, the process, “really helped prepare me for summer research applications because a large part of them focus on self-reflection which I had to do a lot of for the Goldwater application. Lisa was also very helpful, if I had any questions within the next hour she would get back to me with an answer and I think having someone that supportive throughout the process is really helpful.” Finding research can be hard, Madison admits, but “ . . . if people want to get into research, I would just say: do not be afraid to reach out. You have to take initiative to look for it, these opportunities do not just come to you. That would be my biggest piece of advice, email anyone that you’re interested in working with, read some of their papers, see what they’re doing. It can be nerve-racking, but that’s what you have to do.” One of the benefits of the Goldwater scholarship that Gowett particularly liked was that, although the application process “definitely is a lot of work . . . . it really helped me think about why I’m in research and what I want to do with it. It helped me really think about my future, like ‘okay I do want to go to grad school, but what do I want to research? What do I want to do afterward? Do I want to still be involved in teaching?’”
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