HWS News
16 July 2022 • Research • STEM Dwyer ’23 Earns Goldwater Scholarship
Alex Dwyer ’23 has been selected for the Goldwater Scholarship, the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.
Environmental studies and geoscience double-major Alex Dwyer ’23 is among a select group of undergraduates chosen for the 2022-23 Goldwater Scholars program. One of only 417 recipients from across the nation, Dwyer was selected for her strong commitment to a research career, her display of intellectual intensity and her potential for significant future contribution to research in her field.
Among the oldest and most prestigious national scholarships in STEM fields, the Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers. Goldwater Scholars have gone on to win an impressive array of post-graduate fellowships, including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Rhodes Scholarship and Marshall Scholarship, among others.
Dwyer plans to pursue a Ph.D. in atmospheric science, with a focus on researching meteorological phenomena and climate change-related impacts and adaptations. She hopes “to contribute to combatting climate change and to help preserve the livelihoods of those living today and those of future generations.”
“This has been my goal since high school, when I first became aware of the gravity of the climate crisis. Environmental science-based coursework wasn’t an option for me at the time however, so I excitedly attended HWS,” she explains. Through the Colleges’ “strong geoscience and research programs,” she has “fallen in love with atmospheric science through coursework and my experience with research.”
That research includes a nine-week project last summer, during which she produced a climatology of Greenland atmospheric rivers to explore their potential connection to distinctive transitions in the North Atlantic Oscillation through the Northeast Partnership for Atmospheric and Related Sciences (NEPARS) Research Experience for Undergraduates.
Last year, Dwyer was named a recipient of the prestigious Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, which offers undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, outreach and education. This summer, she will complete an internship in Alaska with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of the Hollings program.
At HWS, Dwyer is president of the Women in Geoscience club, a Geoscience Teaching Fellow, a member of Laurel Society and Phi Beta Kappa, and a writer for the HWS Office of Communications. She has been a tutor for America Reads, an Orientation Mentor and received the Phi Beta Kappa Book Prize.
