Amalia Abraham Martín, a Cuban resident in Miami who, at the age of 20, completed her studies at Miami Dade College (MDC), obtained the prestigious Barry Goldwater scholarship to continue her higher studies.
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship is the highest distinction within the American educational system awarded to students who choose research careers in Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering.
Each year about a thousand students meet the final requirements to opt for it and only a few obtain it. In this year 1,250 people from 438 educational institutions in the US managed to enter the last selection step, and the Cuban one did.
“I still can’t believe I won this scholarship. I applied for it last fall but never thought I was going to get it. I had to verify it several times on the website to be sure,” Martín said in a statement released this Thursday.
Martín, who will graduate this summer, intends to study Medicine and research and specialize in Oncology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) thanks to the money awarded by the scholarship that saw in her a scientific potential.
“It inspires me to see how patients recover,” said the young Cuban who for some time has collaborated as a volunteer researcher at the University of Miami (UM).
Martín came to the US from Cuba 5 years ago. In those early days he dreamed of dedicating himself to computing to follow in the footsteps of his father, a computer engineer graduated in Cuba.
However, life changed her mind when in 2018 she faced the care of her mother convalescing from breast cancer. Since then, when he saw the environment of the hospital, he discovered that he wanted to dedicate himself to saving lives.
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by the United States Congress in 1986 in honor of former United States Senator and 1964 presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater.
Its goal is to provide a continuous source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who are US citizens or permanent residents and intend to pursue careers in these fields.
The scholarship is awarded annually to around 300 college sophomores and juniors across the country. The amount of this financial support is $ 7,500 per academic year.