Chemistry Student Among CMU Goldwater Scholarship Recipients
Three Carnegie Mellon University students have been selected to receive the Barry Goldwater Scholarship in 2025.
The awardees are Hyojae Park, a sophomore in the School of Computer Science; Jana Reiser, a third-year student in the College of Engineering; and Sheng Shu, a junior majoring in computer science and also studying chemistry in the Mellon College of Science. Park, Reiser and Shu were among those selected from a pool of over 5,000 applicants.
Shu's fascination with chemistry is rooted in curiosity about the fundamental aspects of the natural world. Over time, that interest grew to include computer science, which offered new tools for examining chemical systems.
"My research journey began here at CMU, where I was drawn in by the sheer number of undergraduate research opportunities and the supportive culture around them," Shu said.
He first worked in Associate Professor of Chemistry Isaac Garcia-Bosch's lab, conducting wet-lab chemical research before pivoting to computational chemistry — a rapidly evolving field that blends scientific discovery with the scale and precision of computer science. Since then, he performed research with Fang Bai, an assistant professor at ShanghaiTech University, and currently works in the lab of Olexandr Isayev, the Carl and Amy Jones Professor in Interdisciplinary Science in CMU's Department of Chemistry.
One of Shu's personal milestones in the lab has been a defining moment in his education so far: building and testing a model that could generate de novo molecules - molecules designed and generated from scratch.
"It was the first bridge I built myself between the two fields," he said.
His current research focuses on molecular representation. Specifically, developing a model that encodes molecules into a fixed number of values, despite the near-infinite complexity of molecular features. This work could improve machine learning applications in chemistry, such as predicting molecular properties and behaviors.
"I hope scientists from all fields can use the research I conduct to accelerate their work," Shu said.
In addition to research, Shu contributes to the CMU community as a teaching assistant for Principles of Imperative Computation and enjoys participating in hackathons with friends. After graduation, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. and continue working at the intersection of chemistry and computer science.
Reflecting on the scholarship, Shu said he's most excited to connect with other scholars and expand his understanding of new research directions.
"The Goldwater was an accumulation of everything I've worked on so far," he said. "It's exciting to see what's possible."
One of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, the Goldwater Scholarship is awarded by the federally endowed Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. It provides up to $7,500 per academic year to support costs such as tuition, fees, books, and room and board.
Carnegie Mellon's Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholar Development provides support to students as they search and apply for opportunities such as the Goldwater Scholarship.
"We are beyond proud of these three incredible student researchers," said Alexander Johnson, scholar development coordinator within OURSD. "Throughout the nomination process, we were continually impressed by the clarity of their goals and their dedication to solving important global issues through research. Jana, Hyojae and Sheng have each already accomplished so much in their time at CMU, and we have no doubt they'll continue on as leaders in their respective fields. Each of them has immense potential as scientists and we're excited to see where their careers take them."