According to the scholarship foundation's website, “the purpose of the Foundation is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue research careers in these fields." 

For chemical engineering junior Laura Azouz, she said being nominated means all her hard work has paid off.

“I was excited, but it also made me motivated to try and improve my application for the national portion of it,” Azouz said.

Azouz said she has a different perspective than most students because of her growing up in Cairo, Egypt.

Azouz said Rebecca Carlson, one of last year’s scholarship award winners, encouraged her to apply.

“Without the support I have from all of my professors at MSU and all the opportunities I had here, I don’t think I would have been able to apply," Azouz said. 

Another nominee, physics junior Hananiel Setiawan, said his interest in research led him to submit an application.

“MSU is a major research institution.” Setiawan said. “There are a lot of undergraduates who who do research, so being one of the four is very rewarding.”

Setiawan grew up in Indonesia and moved to the United States in 2010.

Mathematics junior Thomas Grubb said he was approached by a professor who thought he had the potential to apply.

“Once I got the nomination I was really excited.” Grubb said. “I was just proud that the hard work had paid off.”

Grubb said he got involved in research after his freshman year.

“It seemed like a good way to kind of get my feet wet in some real research in the area,” Grubb said.

MSU selected the four students to represent the university in the national scholarship race.

Biomedical laboratory science junior Kiera Fisher said she feels phenomenal to be given the opportunity from the university.

“It’s a very prestigious scholarship and I’m very excited that there was a whole committee of people who looked at my application, they looked at my research and they said, ‘hey she has potential to win a national competition,” Fisher said.

Fisher said her involvement in the Honors College, beginning her freshman year, exposed her to her love of research.

“I highly recommend to anyone who’s thinking about getting into research to try it,” Fisher said. “I wish more people would get into research.”