Three second- and third-year undergraduates – including two students from the College of Sciences – were recently chosen as walk-on recipients of the Stamps President’s Scholarship. Though this scholarship is typically given to 40 exceptional first-year students, these students were chosen to receive the honor by a closed group of nominators for exemplifying the program’s pillars of scholarship, leadership, progress, and service.

The new Scholars include School of Chemistry and Biochemistry student Mariah Castillo, Scheller College of Business student Elizabeth Patterson, and School of Psychology student Emmarose Stern. As part of the program, the selected students will receive a full-ride scholarship, special mentoring, and travel opportunities.

About the Scholars

Mariah Castillo is a second-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and is from Santiago, Chile. Her interest in chemistry led her to work as a stockroom assistant in the first-year chemistry labs and as a teaching assistant in quantitative analysis labs. Castillo has also pursued research interests, working in School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Z. John Zhang’s Lab synthesizing core-shell nanoparticles. In the Spring, Castillo will begin work research with Amanda Stockton, an assistant professor also in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Mariah is a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Alpha Chi Omega. In her spare time, she enjoys creating art, especially digital art, and animation. In the future, Mariah plans on seeking a Ph.D. in chemistry to become a professor. 

Elizabeth Patterson is from Birmingham, Alabama, and is a third-year undergraduate pursuing a business administration degree with a concentration in finance. She competes on the Georgia Tech Women’s Volleyball Team and serves as the vice president of the Student Athlete Advisory Board. She represents Georgia Tech at the conference level on as the service chair on the Atlantic Coast Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Executive. Following her internship next summer with Northwestern Mutual, Elizabeth will decide to continue in the workforce after graduation or pursue a postgraduate degree. 

Emmarose Stern is studying psychology and social justice, and is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the president of Crisis Text Line Student Volunteers, a network of mental health hotline volunteers at Georgia Tech. She is also a crisis responder at THRIVE Lifeline, a crisis hotline for people with marginalized identities. Emmarose cares deeply about reproductive health, researching male birth control in the Problem Solving and Educational Technology Laboratory led by School of Psychology Professor Richard Catrambone, as well as raising donations for reproductive equity by selling up-cycled second-hand jewelry. After graduation, Emmarose hopes to pursue graduate school for clinical or counseling psychology and work as a mental health therapist for LGBTQ+ youth.

Information on the 17th Class of Stamps Scholars, published June 2022, can be found here. This cohort included 247 top students attending 31 partner universities across the US and the UK. Selected from over 413,000 applications, these Scholars are passionate about tackling national and global challenges while making impacts on their campuses and for their communities.