Washington State University STEM juniors Eva Rickard and Joan “Jo” Castaneda Gonzalez are the newest recipients of prestigious and nationally competitive Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships.
Rickard, a data analytics major with a life science concentration and a mathematics minor, and Castaneda, a chemistry and biochemistry double major, will each receive up to $7,500 to support their 2025–26 education.
“These new Goldwater Scholars have set themselves apart by their academic achievements, undergraduate research, and personal and professional goals,” said April Seehafer, director of the Distinguished Scholarships Program.
Honors College members, Rickard and Castaneda bring WSU’s total Goldwater recipients to 55 since the first in 1990. They were the only two applicants put forward by WSU this year.
WSU is among 233 U.S. institutions with a total of 441 new Goldwater Scholars. Castaneda is one of six Washington residents selected, and Rickard is one of six chosen from her home state of Montana.
WSU is among 233 U.S. institutions with a total of 441 new Goldwater Scholars. Castaneda is one of six Washington residents selected, and Rickard is one of six chosen from her home state of Montana.
Rickard came to WSU Pullman to study wine and beverage business management, but gravitated toward the study of medicine. Since changing her major and career trajectory, she has been extremely productive. Rickard has shared her research at local, national, and international symposia and meetings, received multiple awards, and recently submitted an article as co-author.
She also contributes to the regional medical community by working as a medical assistant/surgical scribe for a general surgeon’s clinic in Moscow, Idaho, and serving as a volunteer coordinator for Pullman Regional Hospital.
She is mentored by Sascha Duttke and Anna McDonald as they work to decode regulatory networks in Alzheimer’s Disease. The Duttke lab is in the School of Molecular Bioscience in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
“When I started at my lab, I had a limited research background, but my passion and work ethic took me to where I am,” Rickard said. “I would advise others to never be afraid to try something new or reach out for help.”
She plans to earn PhD and MD degrees and pursue a research career at a medical school, focusing on gene regulation driving Alzheimer’s and its etiology.
A Billings, Montana, native, she is a Cougar legacy. Her mother, Patricia (’90 DVM), was in veterinary school when she met her father, Scott, preparing for graduate school at nearby University of Idaho. Rickard’s brother, Grant, will graduate from WSU in May and attend medical school in fall.
Castaneda transferred from Whatcom Community College to WSU Pullman in 2023. Coincidentally, he and Rickard met working in the Duttke lab in summer 2023. He began his current research in Anjali Sharma’s Translational Nanomedicine Laboratory in the College of Arts and Sciences in summer 2024.
“Our research is developing nanocarriers that deliver drugs directly to target sites,” he said. “Unlike traditional methods that distribute drugs throughout the body, our approach works like a taxi, not a bus, improving precision and significantly reducing side effects by minimizing off-target exposure.”
He has made a point to get involved beyond classes and research. He’s an organic chemistry teaching assistant, participates and mentors others in the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participants (LSAMP) program, and was a Palouse Discovery Science Center lead volunteer. He participates on panels, leads workshops, was accepted into the NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) program, and will spend summer 2025 conducting chemistry research at the University of Minnesota’s Lando NSF-REU program. He has also published three articles — one as first author.
Receiving the Goldwater, he said, is an honor that acknowledges the perseverance and dedication he has shown as a first-generation college student from an underrepresented background in STEM.
The award also affirms his commitment to pursue a PhD in organic chemistry and a research career as a professor, and reaffirms his drive to be “uplifting to others like me and helping expand representation in STEM.”
He thanks his parents, Juan and Joana, and younger brother, Alex, for inspiring him. “Even though (my parents) still don’t fully understand the academic path I’m on, they continue to support me unconditionally,” Castaneda said. “Their resilience, work ethic, and unwavering belief in me have shaped who I am and continue to motivate me every day. Sí se puede! (Yes, it can be done!)”
