Three UW–Madison students awarded prestigious 2026 Goldwater Scholarships

The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences in the United States.

Three University of Wisconsin-Madison juniors have received 2026 Goldwater Scholarships, the premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences in the United States.

The students are juniors Aletta Bergman, Krithi Gopinath and Eva Stafne.

Each university in the country may nominate up to four undergraduates for the annual award. Historically, UW-Madison has done well, and this year is no exception, says Julie Stubbs, director of UW's Office of Undergraduate Academic Awards.

"I'm so proud of Aletta, Krithi and Eva. I want to congratulate these hard-working, talented scholars for this national recognition," says Stubbs. "Their success also highlights a campus culture of hands-on research experiences and exceptional mentoring in mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences."

Congress established the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation in 1986, in honor of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater. Goldwater served in the U.S. Senate for over 30 years and challenged Lyndon B. Johnson for the presidency in 1964. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Goldwater Scholarship.

A Goldwater Scholarship provides as much as $7,500 each year for up to two years of undergraduate study. A total of 454 Goldwater Scholars were selected this year from a field of 1,485 students nominated by their academic institutions.

Aletta Bergman

Aletta Bergman, a junior from Grantsburg, Wisconsin, is a Mercile J. Lee scholar majoring in wildlife ecology with honors in research and earning certificates in science communication and freshwater and marine sciences. Bergman conducts research in two campus laboratories, receiving both the Sophomore Research Fellowship and the Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship to support her work. In Professor Jake Vander Zanden's limnology lab, she studies the impacts of the invasive zooplankton spiny water flea on biogeochemical cycling in a north temperate lake. In Professor Zach Peery's wildlife ecology and conservation lab, Bergman investigates the impacts of severe fire and fuels management strategies on forest owls in the Sierra Nevada.

Bergman earned an award for best undergraduate poster presentation at the 2025 Raptor Research Foundation Annual Meeting for this work and is preparing a first-author manuscript for publication. She also spent two summers as a research technician with the Natural Resources Research Institute's Avian Ecology Lab in Duluth, Minnesota, where she assisted with the Minnesota National Forest Bird Monitoring Program, a 30-year study in the Superior and Chippewa National Forests. This summer, Bergman will conduct research on Egyptian Vultures in southern Spain through the Boise State University Raptor Research Center's International Research Experiences for Students Program, in collaboration with the non-profit Fundación Migres. In addition, she is the vice president of the Audubon Society at UW-Madison and a past president of the Wildlife Society at UW-Madison. Bergman plans to pursue a doctorate degree in ecology.

Krithi Gopinath

Krithi Gopinath, a junior from Germantown, Wisconsin, is majoring in neurobiology with a certificate in South Asian studies. She is also a student in the Biology Core Curriculum honors program. She conducts research in three campus laboratories, contributing to projects that span basic, clinical and educational neuroscience. With Professor Anton Audhya, Gopinath investigates the cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, earning co-authorship on an article published in the Journal of Cell Biology. In collaboration with Dr. Ankush Bhatia, she conducts clinical and translational research examining how molecular alterations in brain cancer influence brain connectivity, neurocognitive function and patient outcomes.

Gopinath received both the Sophomore Research Fellowship and the Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship to support her work. She also serves as lab manager for Professor Edward Hubbard's educational neuroscience lab, where she oversees behavioral and functional near-infrared spectroscopy studies at the Waisman Center, focusing on mathematical cognition in children and adults. Gopinath plans to pursue a career in medicine and translational research focused on neural recovery following brain injury. A trained Carnatic vocalist and Bharatanatyam performer, she is particularly interested in how rhythmic training may promote neuroplasticity and support rehabilitation.

Eva Stafne

Eva Stafne, a junior from Stillwater, Minnesota, is majoring in mechanical engineering and completing a certificate in international engineering. She conducts astrophysics research with Professor Juliette Becker and has earned both the university's Sophomore Research Fellowship and the NASA-funded Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate Research Fellowship to support her work. In her first-author paper, "General Relativity Can Prevent a Runaway Greenhouse on Potentially Habitable Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs," published in The Astrophysical Journal, Stafne demonstrates that Einstein's theory of general relativity can stabilize planetary orbits around white dwarf stars, allowing some planets to remain temperate enough to potentially support life - a finding that overturns a key assumption in habitability research.

During the fall 2025 semester, Stafne studied at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where she completed coursework in space technology and robotics and contributed to Orbit BioSat, a student-led satellite mission aimed at growing and sustaining a living plant in space. Additionally, as the elected president of the UW-Madison chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, she helped facilitate industry and academic partnerships to expand industry opportunities for students. This summer she will be an intern at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in California. Stafne plans to pursue a PhD in aerospace engineering and a career focused on mission-driven research into the habitability of other planets.