Fan Becomes 1 of 3 Illinois Students Honored with Goldwater Scholarships

4/19/2023 Illinois News Bureau

CS + Philosophy student Max Fan is among 413 scholars selected for Goldwater scholarships from the 1,267 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated by colleges and universities nationwide. 

Written by Illinois News Bureau

University of Illinois students Daniel Cudzich, Max Fan, and Aidan Lindsay were awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.

Max Fan
Max Fan

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Goldwater, who served 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The program encourages the continued development of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to sophomores and juniors from the U.S. who intend to pursue doctorates. The scholarship provides recipients $7,500 annually towards undergraduate tuition, fees, books or room and board. 

This year’s 413 scholars were selected from among an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors from across the country who sought to become among the 1,267 students nominated by faculties of colleges and universities nationwide for the award, according to David Schug, director of the National and International Scholarships Program at Illinois. 

“With so many amazing STEM students and research opportunities at Illinois, just being nominated by the campus for the Goldwater is quite a feat, as is evidenced by three of our four nominees earning the national award,” Schug said.

Fan, a sophomore from Andover, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, is majoring in CS + Philosophy to support his career goal of becoming a computer science professor researching programming languages and formal verification. Fan earned a 4.0 GPA as a James Scholar Honors Program student while taking graduate-level courses in philosophy and computer science. At Illinois, Fan has conducted research with computer science professors Talia Ringer and Charith Mendis and philosophy professor Jonathan Livengood. Fan also serves as an undergraduate teaching assistant in computer science. Outside the classroom, Fan restarted a student programming language club and leads a student open source software organization.


Read the original article from the Illinois News Bureau.


Share this story

This story was published April 19, 2023.