Haley Shea Barfield won the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, which recognizes the country's most promising young scientists and future researchers. With this victory, the University of North Georgia senior from Gainesville became UNG's first Barry Goldwater Scholar.
On the last day of classes of the spring 2019 semester, Barfield cried tears of joy after reading an email.
"This just shows that you can achieve beyond what you think you are capable," said the senior pursuing degrees in English and interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in math/technology, social science and humanities.
Barfield was one of 496 college students from across the country – and only 24 in Georgia – to earn the scholarship for the 2019-20 academic year. More than 5,000 college sophomores and juniors were nominated by 443 academic institutions.
Supported by Congress and established through a collaboration of the Goldwater Scholarship Foundation and the Department of Defense National Defense Education Programs, the scholarship of up to $7,500 a year helps cover costs associated with tuition, mandatory fees, books, and room and board for undergraduate students.
"I worked diligently on the Goldwater application and went through weeks of drafting it, because I knew it would make a huge difference in my financial ability to finish my last year at UNG," Barfield said.
Now, she can do so with ease. But she will not stop at a bachelor's degree. She plans to pursue a doctoral degree in cognitive neuroscience/computational psycholinguistics to conduct research on brain-computer interfaces and neurocognition of language processing. Virtually all Goldwater Scholars intend to obtain a doctoral degree.
"The win has really helped me feel more confident and ready to apply for graduate programs in cognitive neuroscience and computational linguistics this summer," she said.
