Clara Oxford ’26 is one of just 14 students from Florida to receive the $7,500 award.
Eckerd College junior Clara Oxford grew up near a heavily wooded portion of northeast Pennsylvania, and thanks to her parents’ love of the outdoors, she always felt drawn to explore nature—especially the ocean. But there were hurdles.
“My high school biology teacher encouraged me to find out more,” Clara says, “but if I wanted to see the ocean, it was a three-hour drive to the Jersey Shore. And for a while, I was in denial about going into the field of science. But eventually, after talking to other teachers, I wanted to know what that unknown was. I was intrigued about the oceans—how vast they are and how little we know about them. I really wanted to do research, and that’s what led me to Eckerd.”
Her curiosity, plus a lot of hard work, just paid off. A marine science student from Bangor, Pennsylvania, Clara was recently awarded the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship for science majors: the Barry Goldwater Scholarship.
The scholarship, according to its website, is a highly selective $7,500 award given to students from all fields of science, engineering and mathematics who obtain at least a 3.0 grade point average, plan to have a career in the natural sciences, and present a rigorous application that includes an original research paper.
From an estimated pool of more than 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, 1,350 science, engineering and math students were nominated by 445 academic institutions to compete for the 2025 Goldwater scholarships. Of those thousands nominated, 441 were awarded scholarships. Clara was one of 14 students from a Florida college or university to receive the award, which she plans to use to help pay her tuition.
“The Goldwater is the country’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship for science majors—with, on average, eight awards per state for students from all fields of science, engineering and mathematics,” says William Szelistowski, Ph.D., associate professor of biology and marine science at Eckerd and the College’s Goldwater Scholarship campus representative. “This is a real feather in the cap for Clara and for Eckerd’s science program.”
Established by Congress in 1986 to honor former U.S. Senator and 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, the scholarship’s aim is “to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and intend to pursue careers in these fields,” according to the program’s website.
“I had heard about the Goldwater Scholarship,” Clara says, “but I wasn’t sure what it was. In early January, Jeannine Lessmann [Ph.D., assistant professor of marine science and biology at Eckerd] recommended me for it. But the window for applying was closing fast. I was on campus for Winter Term and thought I had nothing to lose. With so little time, it was a bit of a challenge, but it worked out.”
Along with her application, Clara submitted a research essay based on a first-author paper she had published earlier in January that focused on a Research Experiences for Undergraduates program she had attended last summer at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Dauphin, Alabama. “I was looking at the salinity dynamics in Mobile Bay,” she explains. “It’s an estuary with a mix of fresh and saltwater. But there is a narrow, deep shipping channel in the bay that can influence the plants, organisms and drinking water by allowing more saltwater to enter the bay more easily than if the channel wasn’t there.”
She submitted her application January 31, and then she waited. The answer came Friday, March 28. “At noon,” Clara adds. “I knew exactly what time it would be announced. I had an exam that day and tried to hold it together. I refreshed my portal page and it read, “Congratulations, you have been accepted.” I couldn’t believe it. I only had a month to work on my application.”
Her first phone call was to her parents back in Bangor.
Almost a year ago to the day, Clara had earned a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. She is one of 117 Eckerd students to earn the scholarship since the scholarship program’s inception in 2005. “One after another,” Clara says. “It’s hard to believe.”
She has taken part in the Scientist at Sea Program at Eckerd, is working in the Marine Wetlands Restoration Lab with Lessmann, is a marine science tutor and also works in Eckerd’s Financial Aid Office. She plans to eventually earn a Ph.D. in marine science and to conduct research by combining biological and physical oceanography.
“Eckerd College is relatively small, so you can have personal relationships with teachers and peers, and it offers undergraduate research as well as a first-year research program, which I was accepted into,” Clara adds. “Those things really helped me.”
