During his sophomore year, aerospace engineering major Joe Owen ('00) was looking for research experience to complement his classroom studies. He spent more than a year working on a chemical vapor deposition project in the Process Control Lab with Associate Professor of Manufacturing Engineering Michael Gevelber and a handful of graduate students.

Along with lab experience, Owen received an unexpected bonus: the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. "Winning the scholarship is a validation of all of my hard work," he says.

The scholarship program, named by admirers of Senator Goldwater, was designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. Of 1,181 applicants, only 304 received awards. Owen is the first student from the College of Engineering, and only the fourth from Boston University, to win the scholarship.

Owen applied at the urging of Gevelber, who praises his student's enthusiastic lab work. "Joe was looking for involvement in research outside of the classroom," said Gevelber. "We could throw anything at him and he'd jump into it. Joe really contributed to every aspect of the project."

Owen enjoyed his time in the lab. "It was a challenge learning how to link the experience of analysis and systematically decide what I wanted and how to get it. This is what lab work is supposed to be like."

This summer, Owen worked at the NATO-sponsored Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Brussels on an educational research program studying the characteristics of capsules as they re-enter the atmosphere. He begins his senior year this fall.