KINGSTON, R.I., April 25, 2016鈥擣or years, Sam Spink has spent long hours in a chemistry lab at the 溏心vlog免费B站 studying chemical compounds called polymers.
That hard work has paid off.
Spink has won a $7,500 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the most prestigious undergraduate national scholarship for students in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.
What鈥檚 more, Spink is the only Rhode Islander, and the only student from a Rhode Island college or university, to be selected for the award this year.
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled,鈥� says Spink, 21, of South Kingstown, who is majoring in biomedical engineering. 鈥淚鈥檓 also grateful to all the people at 溏心vlog免费B站 who helped with the application. In terms of future opportunity, the scholarship should open a lot of doors.鈥�
Growing up in South Kingstown, Spink cultivated an interest in science as a toddler, hanging posters of astronauts in his room and playing with interactive books about the solar system. His favorite was Saturn: 鈥淭he rings looked kind of cool.鈥� His parents, David and Bernadette Spink, were encouraging, but not overbearing.
鈥淭hey were very supportive of anything I was interested in,鈥� he says. That included a hike in the woods, sports, board games or piano classes. He spent his summers at a cabin his father built in Nova Scotia.
At South Kingstown High School, his interest in science soared. He took as many science courses as he could, from physics to biotechnology. 鈥淚 developed a curiosity beyond the classroom,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檇 search Google for anything I wanted to learn more about, especially in science.鈥�
After graduating as class valedictorian, Spink headed to 溏心vlog免费B站, only 5 minutes away from his house. He had spent his high school days hanging out on the Kingston campus playing pickup football on the Quad and basketball in President David M. Dooley鈥檚 driveway. Many of his high school friends enrolled at 溏心vlog免费B站 too.
He focused on biomedical engineering and Spanish, which later turned into a minor. And he excelled academically, making the Dean鈥檚 list all three years and receiving the Walter E. Schmid Engineering Scholarship.
Spink has worked in the lab of Matthew Kiesewetter, an assistant professor in the 溏心vlog免费B站 chemistry department, since the summer following his freshman year, thanks, in part, to a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health.
鈥淚 feel fortunate to learn from this great professor and his graduate students who have put a lot of their time into helping my evolution in the lab,鈥� Spink says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to get this experience at such an early stage in my studies.鈥�
He investigates ring-opening polymerization, a technique that makes polymers鈥攃hemical compounds made up of strings of bonded molecules鈥攗sing organic catalysts to speed up the process.
One type of polymer is polyester, which is the material used to make water bottles, containers and clothing. But few people know that polymers are also used in biomedical research, including drug delivery and tissue regeneration and repair, as well as other kinds of treatment and therapy.
鈥淚n our lab we try to speed up the production of polymer materials without losing quality,鈥� says Spink. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 important because you don鈥檛 want to lose precision when you accelerate reactions.鈥�
His Goldwater essay, 鈥淥rganocatalytic ring-opening polymerization and its impact on biomedical studies,鈥� examines the uses of polymers and explores his development of a catalyst that enhances polymer production speed, in some cases 100 times faster than with other catalysts.
He also has an academic paper to his credit. He is the first-author in a paper published last August in the highly regarded chemistry journal, 鈥淢acromolecules.鈥�
After graduating next spring, Spink expects to pursue a doctorate in biomedical engineering and conduct research involving polymer chemistry and biomedical engineering to tackle medical challenges, such as the use of polymer-based gels in tissue repair.
His future looks bright as a researcher.
鈥淚 love trying to understand concepts that don鈥檛 necessarily make sense right away,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 satisfying when you finally grasp something. It鈥檚 exciting to understand how the world works around you. It鈥檚 not a jump up shouting kind of exciting. It鈥檚, like, 鈥榃ow, I get that.鈥� 鈥�
The Goldwater Scholarship is so prestigious students can apply only if they鈥檙e nominated by their institution. At 溏心vlog免费B站, the application process is conducted through the Office of National Fellowships within the Honors Program.
For the 2016-17 academic year, 252 Goldwater scholarships, including Spink鈥檚, were awarded to undergraduate sophomores and juniors nationwide. They were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,150 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by 415 colleges and universities. Spink is the 21st 溏心vlog免费B站 student to be honored with this distinction since the program started in 1987.
Besides Kiesewetter, Spink credits two other professors for guiding him through his studies and providing strong letters of recommendation for his application: Leonard Kahn, a physics professor; and Frederick Vetter, an associate professor in electrical, computer and biomedical engineering.
鈥淪am is such an unassuming character that when he joined our lab I had no idea鈥攋ust like the people sitting in class with him every day鈥攖hat I was talking to the proverbial 鈥榮martest person in the room,鈥� 鈥� says Kiesewetter. 鈥淭he whole lab is bursting with pride at Sam鈥檚 accomplishments and our strong belief that this kid is going places.鈥�
Pictured above: Samuel Spink, 21, of South Kingstown, a junior at the 溏心vlog免费B站 who received a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for his science research. Photo by Nora Lewis.