W&L Junior Andrew Seredinski of Flourtown, Pa., Wins Goldwater Scholarship

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Andrew Seredinski, Washington and Lee University

LEXINGTON, VA (04/17/2013)(readMedia)-- Andrew Seredinski, a Washington and Lee University junior from Flourtown, Pa., has won a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.

He was among 271 Goldwater Scholars selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,107 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. The Goldwater is the nation's premier scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering.

The scholarship gives each student up to $7,500 a year for tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Established in1986, the scholarship program honoring the late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Seredinksi is a triple major in physics, philosophy and mathematics, with a minor in German. In addition, he serves as a resident advisor for first-year students, is president of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and sings in both the University Singers and the a cappella group General Admission.

"I had explored the Goldwater Scholarship during my sophomore year but concluded I wasn't qualified," said Seredinski, who graduated from Springfield Township High School. "Then one of my professors, Jonathan Erickson (assistant professor of engineering), suggested that I apply. The Goldwater means a lot to me. It's nice to be recognized for putting the hard work in."

Seredinski plans a career in research after pursuing a Ph.D. in physics or applied physics.

He based his Goldwater proposal on research that he conducted last summer with W&L professors Irina Mazilu and Dan Mazilu in the Thin Film Lab.

"We created a particle deposition model on a graph called a Cayley tree to model how particles adhere to a surface in a process we use to make thin films," Seredinski said. "My Goldwater proposal looks into applying our particle deposition model to dendrimers, which have the structure of a Cayley tree."

Along with both Irina Mazilu, associate professor of physics and engineering, and Dan Mazilu, assistant professor of physics, Seredinski and three of his classmates presented their research at the 2013 March Meeting of the American Physical Society in Baltimore. They also published a paper on the research, which appeared last year in the Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment.

"Andrew is a remarkable student and has chosen to pursue an especially challenging course of study to gain problem-solving skills from different perspectives," Rahl said. "He has worked on both theoretical and experimental aspects of anti-reflection coatings, and his contributions to this project have been exceptional. Like Katie, I think Andrew is extremely deserving of this award."

Washington and Lee University, the nation's ninth oldest institution of higher education, is among the nation¹s premier liberal arts colleges and universities. Washington and Lee University provides a liberal arts education that develops students' capacity to think freely, critically, and humanely and to conduct themselves with honor, integrity, and civility. Graduates are prepared for life-long learning, personal achievement, responsible leadership, service to others, and engaged citizenship in a global and diverse society.