Two Franklin College students who are or have been Midterm Foundation Fellows, Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) apprentices and Presidential Scholars at UGA now share something else in common—they are both 2005-2006 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars.

Melissa Cabinian, a senior from Conyers majoring in environmental health and microbiology, and Caelin Cubeñas, a junior from Louisville, Ky., majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, are two of 320 academically outstanding students from across the country selected to receive the Goldwater Scholarship.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency, and its scholarship program honoring Sen. Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

UGA students have received 26 Goldwater Scholarships in the last 11 years.

“I’m delighted for Melissa and Caelin because they are superb students and delightful people,” said David Williams, director of the Honors Program.

Cabinian is conducting research with Rick Tarleton, Distinguished Research Professor in Cellular Biology, at UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.  She is studying the mechanisms of immune control in Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Cabinian received the Microbiology Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the American Society for Microbiology to continue her work in the Tarleton laboratory this summer.

Cubeñas is researching mechanisms of diseases with the intention of developing medical treatments. She was accepted to the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program at Emory University where she presented her research. At UGA, she has worked in the cellular biology laboratory of Marcus Fechheimer, UGA professor of cellular biology, and as a CURO apprentice for the last two years.