UAB Engineering Student David Murphy Named Goldwater Scholar

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) senior David Murphy, 22, of Hoover, has been selected as a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar for the academic year 2003-2004. He is one of four Alabamians awarded scholarships this year.

March 31, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) senior David Murphy, 22, of Hoover, has been selected as a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar for the academic year 2003-2004. He is one of four Alabamians awarded scholarships this year.

Goldwater Scholars are selected on the basis of academic merit. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 50 Rhodes Scholarships, 55 Marshall Awards and numerous other distinguished fellowships. One- and two-year Goldwater scholarships cover tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year.

Murphy is one of 300 students selected from a field of 1,093 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated from colleges and universities nationwide. He is the second UAB student to receive the scholarship.

Murphy, who has a 3.92 grade point average, is pursuing a dual major in mechanical and biomedical engineering. He is a student in the UAB Honors Program. He plans to earn a doctorate and conduct research in biomechanics.

Murphy, under the guidance of Heng Ban, Ph.D., UAB associate professor of engineering, and a team of five other UAB students are participating in NASA’s Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, in which undergraduate students fly experiments aboard a KC-135 aircraft. The team experiment, which involves examining the charge distributions on particles in micro-gravity, is scheduled to fly aboard the KC-135 the week of April 14. Murphy is one of two team captains for the project. He also has been a student engineer in the Research and Environmental Affairs Department at Southern Company for the last two years.

He has received several awards and honors, including being named Student of the Year by the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers. He was a NASA Space Grant Scholar and was in the Industrial Scholars Program.

Murphy also received the UAB School of Engineering Dean’s Award in 2002 and was named to the 2002 USA Today All-USA College Academic Third Team. Murphy is a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), for which he has been chairman for the past two years.

In addition to his academic studies, Murphy participates in Campus Crusade for Christ. He is a past member of the UAB Ambassadors. He also has served on several committees, including the Into the Streets planning committee and the Bread and Roses shelter committee.

Murphy is a 1999 graduate of Shades Mountain Christian School. He is the son of Ken and Rosanne Murphy of Bluff Park.

A second UAB student, Nora Wang, 21, of Cullman, received an Honorable Mention from the Goldwater Scholarship Program. She is one of 45 students nationwide who received an honorable mention. Wang, a sophomore with a 3.86 grade point average, is pursuing a double major in mathematics and chemistry. She plans to earn a doctorate in chemistry.

Wang is a 2000 graduate of Holly Pond High School. She is the daughter of Mike and Renee Poarch of Cullman.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, established by Congress in 1986, was created to honor the late U.S. Sen. Barry M. Goldwater. The program’s purpose is to help provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to undergraduate students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.