News Release

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Local angle: Concord

UNC junior Adam Roberts 
wins Goldwater Scholarship

CHAPEL HILL – Adam J. Roberts, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has won a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, one of the nation’s most distinguished awards.

Roberts, 21, of Midland, was among 323 winners chosen from a field of 1,081 math, science and engineering students nominated by faculty members at U.S. colleges and universities. He will receive up to $7,500 for tuition, fees, books and room and board for his senior year.

The son of Stewart and Julie Roberts of Midland, Roberts is majoring in mathematics and computer science, with a minor in astronomy. He plans to earn a doctorate in computer science and build data analysis tools for scientists, especially physicists and astronomers.

"I feel that this will be a highly rewarding and enjoyable career that will assist the scientific community in solving important problems to the benefit of humanity," Roberts said.

The Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation of Springfield, Va., makes the awards annually to sophomores and juniors who demonstrate strong commitment to careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering. Winners must display intellectual curiosity and intensity and possess potential for significant future contributions in their chosen field.

Congress created the Goldwater scholarship program in 1986 to honor the late senator, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate.

Roberts is the 28th Goldwater Scholar from Carolina since the first awards were made in 1989, UNC records show.

"We are delighted that Adam has been recognized for his many achievements as a student, and for his tremendous potential for a career as a research scientist," said biology professor Dr. William Kier, chair of the faculty committee that chose UNC’s Goldwater nominees. "It is a reminder of the remarkable quality of the undergraduates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."

Roberts graduated from Central Cabarrus High School in Concord in May 2002. He attended N.C. State University his freshman year, then transferred to Carolina.

He has been on the dean’s list every semester at both universities and maintained a grade-point average at or near a perfect 4.0. Roberts has been inducted into the Golden Key International Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

He was on the founding board and is a committee member in Nourish International, a group he said works to bring sustainable, nutritional food resources to underdeveloped communities worldwide. He is a member of the Carolina Photography Association and was on the film committee of the Carolina Union Activities Board.

Roberts is conducting bioinformatics research directed by Drs. Wei Wang and Leonard McMillan, associate professors of computer science at UNC. The ultimate goal of the work is to develop early-screening procedures for susceptibility to cancers and other diseases.

Roberts rates his semester abroad in Chile, in fall 2004, as an invaluable experience in strengthening his motivation to become a scientist. He and 10 other UNC undergraduates studied and conducted research there, at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, all under the direction of Drs. Gerald Cecil and Wayne Christiansen, UNC professors of physics and astronomy.

The observatory is the site of the 4.1-meter aperture Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope, in which UNC is a partner with the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the Ministry of Science of Brazil and Michigan State University.

His experiences in Chile "were invaluable in reaffirming my motivation for a career in mathematics and the sciences," Roberts said. "I was able to gain insight on the life of a research scientist, a life I am now striving to achieve."

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/students/goldwater/2006/roberts_adam.jpg

For more information about the Goldwater Scholarships, visit http://www.act.org/goldwater/
For more on the distant gamma-ray burst, visit http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep05/reichartsoar091205.htm

Roberts can be reached at ajr@unc.edu.
UNC Goldwater Scholarship committee contact: Dr. William Kier, (919) 962-5017, billkier@bio.unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu