WSU Junior Credits Chehalis Foundation for Prestigious Scholarship

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PULLMAN — The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation has announced that Washington State University junior and Chehalis native Keesha Matz has received a $7,500 award for 2017-18, her senior academic year in Pullman.

Goldwaters are among the nation’s top prestigious scholarships. They help to cover tuition, room and board, and fees at college. In addition to Matz, two other WSU students received Goldwaters for the same period. They are all WSU Regents Scholars and science/technology/engineering/mathematics (STEM) majors planning to graduate in 2018, earn doctoral degrees, and enter research careers to improve human health.

“Your institution should be immensely proud of the (winning) students and the faculty who worked with them to achieve this level of accomplishment,” wrote John Mateja, president of the Goldwater Foundation, in an announcement letter to Mary Sánchez Lanier, assistant vice provost and WSU’s faculty liaison to the national foundation.

“Our students, once again, make us proud by winning Goldwaters, which are prestigious, nationally competitive distinguished scholarships,” said Sánchez Lanier. “They are outstanding researchers and they advance knowledge in their fields by delivering presentations on their work and contributing to journal publications. They are leaders on campus, supporting other students by serving as ambassadors, mentors, and club officers. And they will all make a difference in Washington, the nation, and the world.”

 

Great Beginnings, Support in Chehalis

The daughter of Anne and Dale Matz, Keesha plans a future career as a leader in the study of viruses and infectious diseases at an international biomedical research institution, such as the World Health Organization. She wants to develop treatments and drugs with worldwide impact. It was in her hometown of Chehalis that she caught the bug to pursue biomedical research.

She credits the Chehalis Foundation — which supports W.F. West High School’s STEM program as one of its many projects—with helping her discover and begin to cultivate her passion. It was at W.F. West that she conducted an independent molecular genetics research project and studied DNA methylation patterns under award-winning teacher and WSU alumnus Henri L. Weeks (’87 Sciences). She present her work at three regional conferences her junior and senior year of high school.

With Weeks’ encouragement, she choose to attend Washington State because of its research reputation and its Students Targeted toward Advanced Research Studies (STARS) program, plus she received a Regents Scholarship and was admitted to the Honors College.

STARS, in the School of Molecular Bioscience in the College of Veterinary Medicine, provides a fast-track from undergraduate to doctoral studies plus hands-on mentored research. With hundreds of hours of lab-based experiences to her credit, Matz has been invited to present at national conferences, won numerous awards and scholarships, and has been co-author on submitted journal publications in her field.

She studied the notorious Nipah virus, which has no vaccine or cure, and targets the respiratory and nervous systems, especially the brain. It’s particularly prevalent in developing countries.

In Associate Professor Hector Aguilar-Carreno lab’s in the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, Matz investigated Nipah’s viral replication lifecycle to help design antiviral treatments. Now, with mentors Aguilar-Carreno and SMB Assistant Professor Alan Goodman, Matz is researching the roles of Nipah virus proteins on innate immune responses of infected host cells, leading to a greater understanding of the mechanisms of Nipah virus infectivity.

In the lab of Associate Professor Troy Bankhead, she researched antigenic variation in the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes persistent Lyme disease infections.



In summer 2015, she studied abroad for six weeks in Costa Rica. Living with a host family, she was immersed in Spanish language and culture. She studied environmental ethics and Spanish for 20 hours each week, and explored the region with classmates on weekends.

“The experience definitely influenced the direction of my career,” she said. “I realized that through biomedical research, I want to help people throughout the world.”

This summer, she will be in Rochester, Minnesota, participating in a summer undergraduate research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic for 10 weeks. Her assignment is to study a protein of the Ebola virus that evades the antiviral response at the cellular level — somewhat similar to her Nipah work at WSU.

“Being awarded the Goldwater Scholarship is the culmination of lots of hard work and I am grateful for the incredible support from my parents and mentors,” Matz said. In addition to her research, she has worked in the past year to boost her vita by getting involved with clubs and helping other students to succeed.

 

Tough Competition for Goldwaters

This year, the winning WSU students were among 1,286 sophomores and juniors from 470 institutions nominated by their colleges for a Goldwater scholarship. Selected based on academic merit, research experience,  and progress towards a research career, 240 Goldwater Scholars with majors in natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering were selected to receive scholarships.

WSU’s new Goldwater Scholars represent three of the five awarded to Washington citizens. The other two students attend Ivy League schools — Cornell University and Dartmouth College.

April Seehafer, director of the Distinguished Scholarships Program, part of WSU Undergraduate Education, noted that 2017-18 will be the fourth year in a row that three Cougars won Goldwaters.

“And, actually, Keesha Matz’s new award is her second Goldwater in a row. She also applied when she was a sophomore and received an honorable mention for 2016-17.

The Goldwater Foundation made its first awards in 1989, and WSU’s newest three bring to 37 the total number of Goldwaters awarded to WSU students. We have established a tradition of excellence in undergraduate research and national recognition for those efforts.

Beverly Makhani is the director of communications and marketing at the WSU Office of Undergraduate Education.