Two Undergraduate Scientists Named 2025 Goldwater Scholars

Two Duke University undergraduates have been honored as Barry M. Goldwater Scholars, which supports students who already have an exceptional research record and are pursuing careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. Each Goldwater Scholar receives up to $7,500 annually toward the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board.

Deven Gupta and Paul Rosu are among the 441 students awarded Goldwater Scholarships this year. Goldwater Scholars are nominated by their respective universities and are chosen from a pool of more than 1350 applicants nationwide on the basis of academic merit, research experience and future scientific promise.

Deven Gupta is a junior from Irvine, Calif., studying biophysics and classical civilizations. Under the mentorship of Professor Adam Wax in biomedical engineering, Gupta works on multimodal applications of digital holography—including engineering a new microfluidic device to simulate glaucoma in the lab—work that could advance the field of biomedical optical imaging for years to come. His career goal is to specialize in biomedical optics, researching and designing non-invasive imaging technologies that enable early detection and treatment of neuro-ophthalmic conditions like glaucoma and other neurodegenerative disorders.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Goldwater Scholarship and to represent Duke among such an inspiring group of future scientists,” Gupta said. “I am immensely grateful to my mentors—Professor Adam Wax and Professor John Mercer at Duke, as well as Dr. Brian Wong at UC Irvine—for their unwavering support of my research aspirations. I’m excited to continue advancing biomedical imaging to better understand disease mechanisms and improve diagnostic technologies.”

From Chapel Hill, Paul Rosu is a sophomore mathematics and computer science double major. At Duke, Rosu has conducted research on geometric partial differential equations with Professor Mark Haskins, transformer architectures with Professor Xiang Cheng, and on improvements to the reasoning capabilities of large language models with Professor Bhuwan Dhingra.

Rosu plans to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics and computer science to advance the development of AI models grounded in rigorous mathematical theory.

“The opportunity to explore ideas across disciplines has been one of the most rewarding parts of my experience,” Rosu said. “I’m excited to see how my work continues to grow as these fields evolve and inform one another.”

Since its first award in 1989, the Goldwater scholarship foundation has awarded 11,162 scholarships worth more than $70 million. Ninety-nine Duke students have won Goldwater scholarships since 1990. 

Duke students and alumni can receive support for opportunities like the Goldwater Scholarship from the Nationally Competitive Scholarships team in the Office of University Scholars and Fellows (OUSF).

For more information on the Goldwater Scholarship and other awards, visit the OUSF website.