[402] MTSU's Craig, Ehemann Earn Goldwater Scholarships; Rigsby Named Honorable Mention

Release date: April 8, 2011

News and Media Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
Honors College contacts: Dr. John Vile, 615-898-2152 or jvile@mtsu.edu
Laura Clippard, 615-898-5464 or lclippar@mtsu.edu

MTSU’s Craig, Ehemann Earn Goldwater Scholarships;
Rigsby Named Honorable Mention

(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU students Evan Craig and Chris Ehemann have earned prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program awards, officials with the Hanover, N.H.-based program announced recently.
Lauren Rigsby, a third MTSU student, received honorable mention.
The Goldwater Scholarship program is designed to promote graduate study in the sciences.
Craig, a sophomore University Honors College Buchanan Fellow from Arlington, Tenn., and biology major, received a two-year Goldwater Scholarship that will pay him $7,500 per year for tuition, fees and room and board. He is the son of Elizabeth and Douglas Craig of Memphis.
“I see the scholarship as an opportunity to further my goals with research and continue on to graduate school,” said Craig, whose research is in the area of molecular biology working with dinoflagellates. He is working with Dr. Jeffrey Leblond on this project.
Ehemann, a senior from Tullahoma, is majoring in physics and mathematics. His Goldwater award is for $7,500 for one year. He is the son of Mark and Kristi Ehemann of Tullahoma.
“It’s nice to have the recognition. When you work so hard, often the only thing you get back is grades. I feel like I’ve chosen the right thing as a confirmation,” said Ehemann, whose research is being performed with Predrag Krstic at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Ehemann plans to get a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics and research exotic objects like new stars and black holes.
Rigsby, a junior Honors College Buchanan Fellow from Rockvale, plans to get a degree in medical physics and perform research in radiation oncology. She is the daughter of Alan and Delora Rigsby of Rockvale.
“I wasn’t expecting to get it. I had switched from premed to medical physics. This is showing me it’s the right way to go. I continue with the research I’m doing,” said Rigsby, whose research with Dr. Bill Robertson is in metamaterials – materials that can manipulate the properties of ultramagnetic waves.
All three are from the College of Basic and Applied Sciences.
“This definitely is a door of opportunity,” Honors College Dean John Vile said.
“There will be other opportunities they should look into,” said Laura Clippard, Honors College adviser. “Lauren has two years left. She can reapply for it.
“This is a tribute to our strong science commitment and our faculty.”
Vile said MTSU, Vanderbilt and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville are the state’s only colleges or universities to capture more than one Goldwater Scholarship this year.
The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established Nov. 14, 1986. The program honoring former U.S. Sen. Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue career in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. It is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.
The Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,095 math, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide, Vile said.
Goldwater Scholars have very impressive academic qualifications that have garnered attention of prestigious postgraduate fellowship programs. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 77 Rhodes Scholarships (including four in 2011), 108 Marshall Awards, 98 Churchill Scholarships and numerous other distinguished fellowships.
MTSU’s scholarships were coordinated through the Honors College’s Undergraduate Fellowship Office, which is headed by Clippard.
The University’s first known recipient, Taylor Barnes (’09), who is in graduate school at California Institute of Technology, earned a full Goldwater Scholarship in 2007. Alumna Shannon Murphy (’10), who now is in medical school at East Tennessee State University, received honorable mention in 2009.
The deadline to apply for next year’s Goldwater is Dec. 15 MTSU sophomores and juniors majoring in the fields of math, natural sciences and engineering should contact Clippard by email at fellows@mtsu.edu or call 615-898-5464 for eligibility requirements, or visit www.mtsu.edu/honors/ufo.

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In Brief

MTSU students Evan Craig and Chris Ehemann have earned prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program awards, officials with the Hanover, N.H.-based program announced recently.
Lauren Rigsby, a third MTSU student, received honorable mention.
The Goldwater Scholarship program is designed to promote graduate study in the sciences.


Photo available

A high-resolution photo of the Goldwater Scholars honorees is available. To request, contact Randy Weiler in News and Media Relations by calling 615-898-5616 or 615-898-2919.



Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree — the only one in Tennessee — as a model program. MTSU recently unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

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