Spam Alert
An email was sent yesterday (9/4/2025) from The Goldwater President with a box.com link. This is spam, so if you receive it, please do not click the link. Delete the email immediately.
Scam Email Warning
Please be aware that there is an ongoing scam with someone pretending to be the Barry Goldwater Scholarship & Excellence in Education Foundation. The scammers are going by the “Barry Gold Scholarship” or “Barry Gold Grant Program”. They are sending fraudulent emails and checks to students. These emails and checks are NOT associated with the Barry Goldwater Scholarship & Excellence in Education Foundation. We are a federal agency and only use our official .gov domain to communicate with our scholars. We suggest you report this fraudulent activity and ‘scholarship’ link to your university, report the email addresses as phishing, and report it to the proper authorities.
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2026 Goldwater Scholarship Competition
Dear Goldwater Campus Representative Colleagues and Student Applicants:
The Goldwater Scholarship Foundation is excited to announce that the 2026 Goldwater Scholarship competition will open on September 2, 2025. Institution nominations must be submitted by January 30, 2026. We anticipate supporting 400 to 450 new awardees in 2026.
The Foundation aims to identify, encourage, and financially support promising college sophomores and juniors interested in pursuing research careers in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics. We welcome nominees from a wide range of institutions, from community colleges to research-intensive universities. Candidates must be college sophomores or juniors, U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and should intend to pursue research careers in science, engineering, or mathematics. We encourage transfer students and veterans to reach out to their campus representatives for guidance.
Students interested in being nominated for the scholarship should consult with their Goldwater Campus Representative as early in the nomination cycle as possible. Contact information for Campus Representatives can be found through the Campus Representative Locator at the top of this web page.
We will hold weekly Open Houses for Campus Representatives every Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Open House sessions will feature presentations from Foundation staff, Scholarship America representatives, Goldwater reviewers, and Goldwater Scholars, covering various topics as well as providing an opportunity for questions and answers. The first Open House session will take place on August 20, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. ET.
In addition to the weekly sessions for Campus Representatives, the Foundation will host Open House sessions specifically for students on September 17 (at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.) and November 5, 2025 (at 4:00 p.m.). At the sessions on September 17th, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with current Goldwater Scholars; at the November 5th session, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Goldwater reviewers. Zoom links for the CR sessions will be emailed to all Goldwater Campus Representatives in August.
The Zoom link for all student sessions is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82204685838?pwd=W6VIfc1kaMj7DK2zUZZ1iptXG8WMuW.1
Meeting ID: 822 0468 5838
Passcode: 022563
We look forward to supporting you as you work through the Goldwater nomination process and wish you the best in the 2026 Goldwater Scholarship competition.
With warm regards,
John Mateja, PhD
President
Goldwater Scholarship Foundation
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation was established by Congress in 1986 to serve as a living memorial to honor the lifetime work of Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate.
By providing scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering, the Goldwater Foundation is helping ensure that the U.S. is producing the number of highly-qualified professionals the Nation needs in these critical fields. Over its 30-year history, Goldwater Scholarships have been awarded to thousands of undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to win other prestigious awards like the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Fellowship, Rhodes Scholarship, Churchill Scholarship and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship that support our Scholars’ graduate school work. Today, Goldwater alumni can be found conducting research that is helping defend the Nation, finding cures for catastrophic diseases and teaching future generations of scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
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Important Dates
FIRST TUESDAY IN SEPTEMBER: Online Application Opens
EARLY SEPTEMBER TO LATE JANUARY: Individual internal campus deadlines
LAST FRIDAY IN JANUARY: Nomination deadline (5:00 PM CT)
LATE FEBRUARY: Nomination packets reviewed
MID-MARCH: Board of Trustees vote on Scholars
LAST FRIDAY IN MARCH: Scholars/Honorable Mentions Announced (11:00 AM Central Time)
College Matters. Alma Matters. June 3rd Podcast
Episode summary introduction: Set up in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater’s distinguished public service, the Scholarship promotes undergraduate research by awarding scholarships to students. In this podcast, John gives us an overview of The Barry Goldwater Scholarship, How Students can Apply, What they look for in their Scholars, and Advice for High Schoolers.
Linking Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Applications
For more videos on helpful topics ranging from applying for fellowships to life in graduate school, visit the Webinar Archives.
Welcome to the The Goldwater Community!
