Monday Mission, March 29, 2021
Last Friday I learned from Dr. Emily Hynds, our Goldwater Scholarship Program representative, that Sydney Bottcher has been selected for the prestigious Goldwater program, which “seeks to identify and support college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming the Nation’s next generation of research leaders” in the fields of natural sciences, engineering and mathematics.
Sydney is a junior Chemistry major at Samford, with plans to teach and conduct research in natural product synthesis and medicinal chemistry.
Sydney has been conducting research for the past two years with Dr. Dale Wilger of our Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and she is already the lead author of a published paper. Coincidentally, as the announcement regarding Sydney’s Goldwater appointment was released last Friday, Dr. and Mrs. Wilger welcomed their second child. It was a great day for Sydney and the Wilger family.
The world is better because of Sydney Bottcher, her towering intellect, and the presence in her life of a gifted mentor, Dale Wilger.