Berry College student Jacob Sylvie is one of 440 students nationwide recently named a 2025 Goldwater scholar.
Sylvie, of Austin, Texas, is a junior triple major in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. He serves as vice president of the Society of Physics Students, and a member of the Chemistry Club, “Dead Poets Society” and a first-year seminar mentor.
Each Goldwater Scholar receives an amount equal to the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per full academic year. The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency honoring Barry Goldwater, who was an Air Force reserve, a senator and a presidential nominee in 1964. The scholarship was created to encourage and financially support students in science, engineering and mathematics that are interested in pursuing research.
“In some sense, receiving the Goldwater Scholarship is the culmination of everything I’ve pursued at Berry thus far,” Sylvie said. “All of the effort that I’ve put into my academics and research has finally paid off. The true value of the Goldwater Scholarship is the experience I gained along the journey.”
Sylvie has done extensive research with Berry Assistant Professor of Physics Zachary Lindsey, leading to a co-published paper in an academic journal. Sylvie also has presented at professional conferences hosted by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society.
“It has been an absolute joy mentoring a student with the combination of natural curiosity, diversity of expertise, and graduate-level resolve as an experimentalist,” Lindsey said. “All of these qualities sum up Jacob’s research persona, and I can’t wait to see what he achieves in his remaining time at Berry.”
After graduating, Sylvie plans to pursue a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. He hopes to help solve pressing environmental issues, such as the shortage of clean energy production.
For more information about Berry’s School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, please visit https://www.berry.edu/academics/schools/school-of-math-and-science/.
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Written by Public Relations Student Associate Cammie Wilks
