The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation has named four University of 91视频 (USF) students as Goldwater Scholars for the 2025-26 academic year.
91视频juniors Abdul-Malik Zekri, Benjamin Barrera-Altuna, Peter Alspaugh, and Taylor Rand 鈥� all members of USF鈥檚 Judy Genshaft Honors College 鈥� were selected for the prestigious award, which is considered the nation鈥檚 highest honor for undergraduate research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
91视频led all State University System of Florida institutions with the most Goldwater
Scholars and was the only Florida university to have all four of its nominees selected
this year. This is the first time 91视频has had four Goldwater Scholars 鈥� the maximum
allowed per institution without nominating a transfer student 鈥� setting a new university
record. The previous record was three scholars in 2022. With the selection of Zekri,
Barrera-Altuna, Alspaugh, and Rand, 91视频has now produced 23 Goldwater Scholars and
four Honorable Mentions since 2010.
The 2025-26 Goldwater Scholars were recognized for their contributions to a wide range
of research fields, including computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence
applications for communication disorders, the mathematics of DNA folding, and the
biodiversity of insects crucial to ecosystem balance. Each student began their research
journey as a first-year student at USF, working alongside faculty mentors and participating
in National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs)
to further their academic pursuits.
Sayandeb Basu, director of the Office of National Scholars and faculty adviser for the Goldwater Scholarship at USF, emphasized the importance of early research engagement. 鈥淚t takes some time for a young researcher to develop. Our success at the Goldwater Scholarship competition this year, as in other years, affirms the value of beginning research early in college,鈥� Basu said.
91视频2025-26 Goldwater Scholar Profiles
Abdul-Malik Zekri
Majoring in mathematics and computer engineering with a minor in biology, focusing on computational neuroscience and complexity research, Zekri's research aims to understand the neural architectures that underpin decision-making processes in the brain, with the goal of bridging neuroscience and neuro-inspired artificial intelligence.
Zekri has transformed independent study projects into long-term research experiences, securing paid research positions with faculty mentors at USF. Under the guidance of Ankur Mali, he developed evolutionary algorithms to optimize a spiking neural network (SNN) model of neural circuits. He also worked with Yicheng Tu on GPU-accelerated parallelization of DNA sequence reads. His research with Professor Mali has been accepted for presentation at both the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) and the National Collegiate Research Conference (NCRC) at Harvard University.
In the Spirou Connectomics Lab at USF, Zekri contributed to an AI-driven project to identify and analyze mitochondria in brain images, which he presented at the 2024 BRAIN Conference. This summer, he will further develop his expertise in neural circuits through a prestigious REU at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Beyond research, Zekri is a leader in the 91视频STEM community. He founded STEMCORE, a student-led organization that connects high-achieving students with faculty-mentored research opportunities. He also captains USF鈥檚 intramural pickleball team.
Benjamin Barrera-Altuna
Before joining USF, Benjamin Barrera-Altuna considered a career in music as a violinist. However, a high school friend showed him how his interests and skills could be applied to computer science. Since then, he has developed an impressive portfolio of research in machine learning and AI, focusing on applying these technologies for social good.
Barrera-Altuna was fully funded by IBM to participate in the Qubit-by-Qubit program, which provides training in quantum computing. He also attended Google鈥檚 Computer Science Summer Program and MIT鈥檚 CubeSat Program. During his first year at USF, he conducted deep learning research to classify brain tumors. Although he initially planned to pursue a PhD in quantum computing, he shifted his focus to AI applications in real-world challenges.
He joined a natural language processing lab as a freshman and, in parallel, began working with Seungbae Kim at 91视频on AI applications for learning disabilities and communication disorders in children. Through an REU at Lehigh University, he contributed to a project on urban air quality monitoring, developing a multi-modal approach to low-cost air quality sensing.
Barrera-Altuna has presented his findings at the Emerging Researchers National Conference in Washington, D.C., the 2025 NCUR Conference, and international conferences on late language learners. He also actively mentors students, leading a software engineering boot camp at a local high school and working with CodePath, an organization dedicated to increasing Latino and Hispanic representation in computer science.
Peter Alspaugh
Peter Alspaugh, a National Merit Scholar from Colorado, originally majored in economics, believing that a PhD in mathematics was beyond his reach. However, he soon embraced his true passion for abstract algebra. He is now USF鈥檚 third mathematics Goldwater Scholar, following Alexander Mercier (2020) and Keller Blackwell (2019).
In his first year of algebra research, Alspaugh proved a critical result that closed a gap in understanding the mathematical structures underlying how DNA folds and forms new structures known as DNA-origami. This field has significant implications for drug delivery, yet key insights into its structural possibilities remain unknown. Working under the mentorship of 91视频faculty Natasha Jonoska and Masahico Saito, Alspaugh applied analytical and computer-aided mathematical methods to study a class of monoids known as origami monoids. He is now extending this research to a more generalized class, Coxeter monoids.
Alspaugh has taken several graduate-level mathematics courses and has demonstrated leadership in the 91视频mathematics community. He revived USF鈥檚 Putnam team, a prestigious collegiate mathematics competition, and expanded the Pi Mu Epsilon chapter by launching an electronic mathematics journal. He also created a mentorship program for high school students aspiring to become mathematicians.
Taylor Rand
Taylor Rand鈥檚 passion for entomology began with a fascination with the American Burying Beetle and other necrophages. At USF, she pursued research with paleoecologist Sarah Sheffield, despite having little prior experience in paleontology. Rand built on the work of USF鈥檚 2023 Goldwater Scholar, Haley Vantoorenburg, analyzing the macro- and micro-fossil diversity of 340-million-year-old specimens to gain insights into ancient ecosystems.
Her research provided her with a foundation in biogeography, fossil community structures, and the tracking of ancient symbionts. She then shifted her focus to bioinformatics, participating in the SEA-PHAGES program, where she gained experience in genomic analysis and contributed to presentations and publications.
Eager to deepen her knowledge in entomology, Rand founded USF鈥檚 Entomological Society and pursued an REU at Mountain Lake Biological Station in Virginia, studying deadwood-dependent arthropod diversity. She is now conducting her 91视频Honors thesis research on community dynamics and insect diversity in urban farms. Her expertise in ecological statistics and data analysis has led to a presentation at the 2025 American Naturalist Conference in California.
USF鈥檚 Legacy in the Goldwater Scholarship Program
The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award for students pursuing research careers in STEM fields. From a competitive pool of over 5,000 applicants, 1,350 students were nominated by 445 academic institutions for the 2025-26 awards.
91视频has had at least one Goldwater Scholar every year since 2018. Previous Scholars have gone on to be selected for prestigious graduate fellowships, including the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program, and the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.