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Three MSU students named Goldwater scholars

Montana State University wasn’t Zeb Barber’s first choice of
colleges, but now he’s "super glad" to be at MSU, where he
loves working in a laser laboratory on cutting-edge research.

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

"I get so psyched about it," Barber said Tuesday. "I forget
about classes and a social life, because I love working in
the lab so much."

MSU encourages undergraduates do to research, which has
helped Barber and fellow students Britney Moss and Sara
Maccagnano to win prestigious 2002 Goldwater
Scholarships. They bring MSU’s record up to 40 Goldwater winners, one of the best in the
nation.

Created by Congress in 1986, they are among the top scholarships in the nation for students in
engineering, sciences and math. About 300 are awarded each year. They cover tuition, fees,
books, room and board for up to $7,500 a year.

"I screamed," Maccagnano said, when she opened her letter Saturday. The honor is great, plus
she didn’t have any scholarships to get through her final year of physics.

This is the second time Maccagnano, 30, has won a Goldwater Scholarship. The research she’s
involved in focuses on something called "electron paramagnetic resonance on iron-8," a
man-made substance that scientists hope can make breakthroughs in building incredibly fast
and powerful quantum computers.

She wasn’t heading to a career in physics when she graduated from Manhattan High in 1989.
She worked painting duck decoys at Big Sky Carvers for seven years and while painting, would
listen to books-on-tape. Stephen Hawking’s "A Brief History of Time" changed her life.

"It just wowed me," Maccagnano said. "It hit me — this is what I should be doing."

At the other end of the age spectrum is Moss, who enrolled at MSU at age 16. A Bozeman
native, she had been homeschooled by her mom, Dorothy, while her dad, Don, worked at
Cottonwood Hills as golf course supervisor.

Moss, now 18, is majoring in biochemistry and working in Jan Starkey’s research lab on
angiogenesis, trying to find new ways to combat cancer by figuring out how tumors grow the
blood vessels that feed them.

"It’s kind of revolutionary," Moss said. Her ultimate goal, she said, is to become an astronaut
and do research on the space station.

"I was elated" by the news she won the scholarship, Moss said. "I felt very blessed."

Barber, 21, a 1999 Belgrade High graduate, has been working the last two years in Randy
Babbitt’s Spectrum research lab. There scientists are working on using man-made crystals to
store information using different color frequencies. It could be important to defense and
communications. Crystals the size of a peanut could, in theory, store as much information as a
thousand CDs.

"It’s extremely exciting," Barber said. "There’s so many things you can do with the crystal. It can
remember all the light that went into it."

All three students aim to earn doctorates and continue in research and teaching. MSU
biochemistry student Colin Ingram also was listed as an honorable mention for the award.

Gail Schontzler is at [email protected].

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