Geobiology Student Receives Goldwater Scholarship

Amanda Hazel Dilmore, a sophomore majoring in geobiology, has been selected to receive a Goldwater Scholarship for the 2018–19 academic year.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program awards scholarships to college sophomores or juniors who intend to pursue research careers in science, mathematics, and engineering.

Dilmore, who is from Lake Mary, Florida, was one of 211 students chosen this year from a pool of 1,280 nominees. The scholarships, which were established by Congress in 1986 to honor the late Senator Barry Goldwater, help to cover costs associated with tuition, fees, books, and room and board for one or two academic years.

In addition to managing Caltech's rigorous academic load, Dilmore also conducts research in the laboratory of Dianne Newman, Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology, Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of the Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions, and executive officer for molecular biology. Dilmore studies how a particular strain of bacteria develops into communities under low oxygen conditions, which is a model system for studying pathogenesis in cystic fibrosis patients.

"Hazel is a force of nature—the type of bright, motivated, hardworking student who makes it a pleasure to teach at Caltech," says Newman. "Thanks to outstanding mentoring at the bench from Will DePas, a postdoc in my lab, Hazel has become an accomplished experimentalist in a short period of time. The world is hers for the taking, and it will be exciting to see what she is doing 10 plus years from now."

When not working in the lab, Dilmore has been an active member of the Caltech Y executive committee, volunteering to tutor local public-school students and organizing events such as India Ki Khoj, Caltech's cultural exchange program with the India Institute of Technology Gandhinagar.

Dilmore aims to pursue an MD/PhD to study immunology after graduating from Caltech in 2020.

"I am very flattered to receive the Goldwater scholarship, but more than that, I am grateful for the accessibility of undergraduate research at Caltech," Dilmore says. "I was fascinated by Dianne Newman's research when I was applying to Caltech, so it is surreal to me that I have worked with her for the last year and a half."