For the first time in the USF College of Engineering history, we are excited to announce that two engineering students have been named Barry Goldwater Scholars two years in a row —an incredible milestone. These students have been named 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholars for excellence in Undergraduate Research two years in a row. This years winners both come from the USF College of Computer Science Engineering (recently renamed the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Computing) Abdul-Malik Zekri and Benjamin Barrera-Altuna. Both of the 2025 Goldwater Scholars are also Judy Genshaft Honors College (JGHC) students.
Abdul-Malik Zekri received the scholarship for computational neuroscience. Zekri is graduating in May 2025 with his degrees in Computer Science Engineering and Mathematics, with a minor in biology, focusing on computational neuroscience and complexity research.
Benjamin Barrera-Altuna received the scholarship for applied AI, and he is graduating in May 2025 with his degree in Computer Science Engineering. His research has primarily focused on machine learning and AI and testing applying these technologies for social good.
Last year, the USF College of Engineering celebrated another first for the 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship winners as two non-traditional engineering students both were named 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholars. With this year's two new engineering scholars, it truly highlights the engineering excellence the college is building for the students.
The 2024 engineering undergraduate students who were named the 2024 Bary Goldwater Scholars were Keegan Suero and Daniela Zamora-Alviarez, worked as part of the NanoMechanics, NanoMaterials, NanoManufacturing lab (NM3L) in the USF College of Engineering. Assiustant Professor Michael Cai-Wang, within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at USF, never dreamed these two non-traditional transfer students would both become Goldwater scholars one day. Read the full article here.
A special thanks to all the faculty mentors who helped these students succeed:
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- Faculty Mentors that supported Mr. Zekri:
- Professor George Spirou, USF College of Medical Engineering and Morsani College of Medicine
- Tim Fawcett, USF Assistant Director of Research Facilitation/Research Professor
- Assistant Professor Ankur Mali, USF College of Computer Science Engineering
- Faculty Mentors that supported Mr. Barrera-Altima:
- Assistant Professor Sungbae Kim, USF Computers Science Engineering
- Dai-Yun Lee, Yale
- Assistant Professor Yu Yang, Lehigh University
- Faculty Mentors that supported Mr. Zekri:
In keeping with the theme of firsts, USF achieves all-time high with four students named Goldwater Scholars, which is considered an exclusive group. In the past, Sayan (Sayandeb) Basu, Director of the USF Office of National Scholars (ONS), notes that the previous record was three recipients in 2022. This year’s achievement of four students being named 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholars is a remarkable accomplishment and a testament to USF’s academic excellence. We extend our sincere thanks to all the dedicated mentors and to Director Basu for their invaluable support and guidance.
"The co-mentoring partnership between faculty of engineering and ONS has been fruitful. The college of engineering is now a leader in producing Goldwater Scholars," says Sayandeb Basu, Director of the Office of National Scholars (ONS). "Goldwater Scholars have gone onto win the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and pursue PhD programs at institutions like MIT, Stanford University and the University of Cambridge" he added.
This achievement sets a new university record for the University of South Florida and makes USF the top-performing institution in Florida for the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate STEM research award. Read the full article here.
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