Julian Rubinfien, YC’24 double majoring in Mathematics and in Physics working with Ben Machta, is one of four Yale students, out of a pool of 413 U.S. college students, who were awarded a Goldwater Scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year. The scholarships, named for the late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, encourage students to pursue research careers in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
The Goldwater Scholarships, which are among the most eminent undergraduate awards in these fields, are supported by the Goldwater Foundation and by an ongoing partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense National Defense Education Program (NDEP).
The Yale awardees were selected from a pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors who were nominated by 427 academic institutions. Virtually all of the recipients say they intend to obtain a Ph.D., and many of have already published research in leading professional journals and presented their work at professional society conferences.
Julian Rubinfien, of Jonathan Edwards College, is a first-semester senior majoring in physics and mathematics. A Hahn Scholar at Yale (the scholarship supports students with strong science and engineering research backgrounds), he conducts research with Yale physics professor Ben Machta at the intersection of statistical physics and theoretical neuroscience. He previously worked at NASA, designing and preparing experiments on the International Space Station, and spent last summer conducting research at Harvard University with Professor Cengiz Pehlevan. After graduation, he will enter the physics Ph.D. program at Harvard.
Rubinfien states, “I just want to thank those who have helped me along and taught me so much over the past several years: namely, Prof. Ben Machta, Michael Abbott, and Isabella Graf at Yale, as well as Prof. Leonid Glazman, and at Harvard, Prof. Cengiz Pehlevan and Jacob Zavatone-Veth.”
This story was excerpted from the Yale News story of April 19, 2023 by Susan Gonzalez. Please see links below for the full story and other related links.