Goldwater Foundation Honors University of Idaho Students

March 27, 2007

MOSCOW, Idaho - Christopher M. Chandler, a University of Idaho junior studying dietetics, is the university’s 10th recipient in eight years of a prestigious national Goldwater Scholarship.

Chandler is a senior from Absarokee, Mont., in the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences School of Family and Consumer Science. He was named the college’s Capital Press Outstanding Freshman in 2005 and serves as co-chair of the university’s War on Hunger.

Maryann K. Watkins, a junior from Idaho Falls studying microbiology at the University of Idaho, was recognized with an honorable mention. Five University of Idaho students have received honorable mentions since 2000 from the scholarship program for future researchers and educators in science, engineering and mathematics.

“That’s outstanding,” said Mark Warner, the university Honors Program associate director. “Both of these students are very deserving of the recognition.”

Goldwater scholars are sophomores or juniors who plan to pursue graduate studies in science, engineering or mathematics. They receive $7,500 a year to complete their undergraduate studies.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation was created by Congress in 1986 to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in science, engineering and math. The Goldwater Scholarship is considered the premier undergraduate scholarship in those fields. . . .

Chandler plans to pursue a doctorate degree in nutritional anthropology and conduct research on prehistoric foods and their nutritional aspects to fight chronic malnutrition, particularly in Africa.

His interest began when he read a National Academy of Sciences report about the lost crops of Africa. “It said a lot of good could be done by encouraging the growing of African vegetables that have been mostly forgotten,” Chandler said.

Evidence suggests, Chandler said, that an effort to repeat the success of the Green Revolution that relied on relatively few crops to feed people worldwide may not be the right fit for Africa.

Helping Africans to rediscover their own nutritious crops that are better suited to environmental conditions and their nutritional needs fit his interests and those of sustainable agriculture advocates, Chandler said.

He wants to study anthropology in Africa to understand human evolution that reaches back over 2 million years. It has only been roughly 10,000 years, Chandler noted, since agriculture first arose.

Some foods, notably dairy products like milk and cheese, could not have been part of the human diet until livestock was domesticated, which occurred after the development of agriculture.

“My vision for my career is really to make a difference in the lives of people, whether they be living down the hall or in a hut on the other side of the world,” said Watkins.

Watkins wants to earn a doctorate degree in epidemiology, the study of disease. She wants to study the ecology of how emerging infectious diseases are transmitted and strategies for controlling outbreaks.

Ted Yamamoto of Caldwell was a sophomore studying biology when he was awarded a Goldwater scholarship in 2005. He will graduate this spring with a baccalaureate degree in biology.

Yamamoto hopes to spend the next year working for scientists affiliated with Harvard or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Boston area to pursue his interest in microbial ecology, then earn a master's or doctorate degree and pursue medical research.

“The Goldwater scholarship obviously helped financially and it’s an honor to be recognized for scientific achievement,” Yamamoto said.

All three students are members of the University of Idaho Honors Program.