A member of the Wisconsin Energy Institute’s Hittinger Lab has won the nation’s premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, engineering, and natural sciences. 

Katarina Aranguiz, a junior from Hartford, Wis., was one of four University of Wisconsin–Madison students to receive a 2024 Goldwater Scholarship.

Aranguiz, who is majoring in biochemistry with a certificate in data science, works in professor Chris Hittinger’s genetics lab, where she leads efforts in using machine learning to understand phenotypic variation across diverse yeast species for clinical and industrial applications.  

Aranguiz transferred to UW–Madison after completing her freshman year at UCLA, where she was part of an honors-level academic community that introduces students to cutting-edge biological sciences research. Last year she received a Sophomore Research Fellowship from the Provost’s Office and an award from the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund recognizing her potential to become a leader in the life sciences. She plans to pursue a PhD in computational biology and a research career furthering the development of sustainable bioproducts.

The scholarship program honors the late Sen. Barry Goldwater and is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers.

A Goldwater Scholarship provides as much as $7,500 each year for up to two years of undergraduate study. A total of 438 Goldwater Scholars were selected this year from a field of 1,353 students nominated by their academic institutions.