Two Indian American University of Pennsylvania third-year undergraduates — Shreya Nair and Pranav Sompalle — have received 2026 Goldwater Scholarships, awarded to students planning research careers in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
Nair, and Sompalle of the College of Arts & Sciences, are among the 454 students named Goldwater Scholars, out of more than 5,000 nominees by 482 academic institutions in the United States, according to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship & Excellence in Education Foundation.
Each scholarship provides up to $7,500 per year for up to two years of undergraduate study. Penn has had 72 Goldwater Scholars named since Congress established the scholarship in 1986 to honor U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater.
Nair, from Allen, Texas, is majoring in biology and minoring in engineering entrepreneurship in the College and submatriculating for a master’s degree in bioengineering.
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She conducts research in Ben Stagger’s laboratory under Minh Than at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, investigating cancer interception with KRAS inhibitors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and at MD Anderson Cancer Center under the mentorship of Michael Andreeff, studying the combined use of menin inhibitors and c-MYC degraders in KMT2A-rearranged acute myeloid leukemia.
At Penn, Nair serves as a research peer advisor for Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF), is a member of the Department of Biology’s student advisory committee, and participates in the Venture Lab and Wharton Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Club, where she is building her startup. She plans to pursue graduate studies in cancer engineering.
Sompalle, from Cleveland, Ohio, is majoring in biochemistry and biophysics and minoring in history, and submatriculating for a master’s degree in chemistry through the Vagelos MLS program in the College.
Sompalle is interested in making precision medicine accessible by developing AI tools to predict new diagnostic insights from low-cost imaging and innovating care delivery.
He is the policy and outcomes lead for Penn’s Shelter Health Outreach Program and undergraduate coordinator at the University City Hospitality Coalition Free Medical Clinic.
He is a U.S. Presidential Scholarand winner of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Challenge Award. He hopes to become a physician scientist integrating biomedical engineering and AI with community health.