Fields of Study

Goldwater Scholarships support students planning research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. The fields below, and the subfields listed under each, are the areas of study recognized in the Goldwater application — select the one that best matches your research interests. They follow the fields and subfields the National Science Foundation uses for its Graduate Research Fellowship Program, so the same vocabulary will be familiar when you apply for graduate fellowships later.

Eligible fields and subfields

Chemistry

Artificial Intelligence, Chemical Catalysis, Chemical Measurement and Imaging, Chemical Structure Dynamics and Mechanism, Chemical Synthesis, Chemical Theory Models and Computational Methods, Chemistry of Life Processes, Computationally Intensive Research, Environmental Chemical Systems, Macromolecular (including Polymer Chemistry) Supramolecular and Nanochemistry, Quantum Information Science, Sustainable Chemistry, Other (specify)

Computer & Information Sciences & Engineering

Accessibility, Algorithms and Theoretical Foundations, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Graphics and Visualization, Bioinformatics and Bio-inspired Computing, Communication and Information Theory, Computationally Intensive Research, Computer Architecture, Computer Security and Privacy, Computer Systems, Computer Vision, Cyber-Physical Systems and Embedded Systems, Cybersecurity, Data Science Data Mining Information Retrieval and Databases, Electronic Design Automation and Design of Micro and Nano Computing Systems, Fairness Explainability Accountability and Transparency in Analytics, Formal Methods Verification and Programming Languages, Human Computer Interaction, Information Sciences, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Parallel Distributed and Cloud Computing, Quantum Information Science, Robotics, Scientific Computing, Social Computing, Software Engineering, Wired and Wireless Networking, Other (specify)

Engineering

Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computationally Intensive Research, Computer Engineering (including Networking), Cybersecurity, Data Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Energy and Power Engineering, Environmental and/or Ecological Engineering, Industrial Engineering & Operations Research, Machine Learning, Manufacturing Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering (including Polymers Ceramics Semiconductors), Mechanical Engineering, Microwave Electromagnetics Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Ocean Maritime Engineering, Optical Engineering, Quantum Engineering, Quantum Information Engineering, Quantum Information Science, Robotics Control Automation, Systems Engineering, Wireless Engineering, Other (specify)

Geosciences

Aeronomy, Artificial Intelligence, Arctic-Antarctic, Atmospheric Chemistry, Biogeochemistry, Biological Oceanography, Chemical Oceanography, Climate and Large-Scale Atmospheric Dynamics, Coastal Marine Science, Coastal Studies, Computationally Intensive Research, Earth System Science, Environmental Science, Geobiology, Geochemistry, Geochronology, Geodynamics, Geoinformatics, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics, Glaciology, Heliospheric Physics, Hydrology, Magnetospheric Physics, Marine Biology, Marine Ecology, Marine Geology and Geophysics, Ocean Technology (ROVs AUVs sensors), Paleoclimate, Paleontology and Paleobiology, Petrology, Physical and Dynamic Meteorology, Physical Oceanography, Quantum Information Science, Remote Sensing, Sea Ice, Sedimentary Geology, Solar Physics, Tectonics, Volcanology, Other (specify)

Life Sciences

Artificial Intelligence, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Biophysics, Cell Biology, Computationally Intensive Research, Developmental Biology, Ecology, Environmental Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Genomics, Microbial Biology, Neurosciences, Organismal Biology, Physiology, Proteomics, Quantum Information Science, Structural Biology, Systematics and Biodiversity, Systems and Molecular Biology, Other (specify)

Materials Research

Artificial Intelligence, Biomaterials, Ceramics, Chemistry of Materials, Computationally Intensive Research, Electronic Materials, Materials Theory, Metallic Materials, Photonic Materials, Physics of Materials, Polymers, Quantum Information Science, Other (specify)

Mathematical Sciences

Algebra, Number Theory, and Combinatorics; Analysis; Applied Mathematics; Artificial Intelligence; Biostatistics; Computational and Data-enabled Science; Computational Mathematics; Computational Statistics; Computationally Intensive Research; Geometric Analysis; Logic or Foundations of Mathematics; Mathematical Biology; Probability; Quantum Information Science; Statistics; Topology; Other (specify)

Medicine

Medicine – Other. Remember: research must be central to your career plans; the Foundation does not support careers in clinical practice.

Physics & Astronomy

Artificial Intelligence; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics; Computationally Intensive Research; Condensed Matter Physics; Nuclear Physics; Particle Physics; Physics of Living Systems; Plasma Physics; Quantum Information Science; Solid State Physics; Theoretical Physics; Other (specify)

Psychology

Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Comparative Psychology, Computational Psychology, Computationally Intensive Research, Developmental Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Neuropsychology, Perception and Psychophysics, Physiological Psychology, Psycholinguistics, Quantitative Psychology, Quantum Information Science, Other (specify)