Kyle Chen and Indeever Madireddy Receive Goldwater Scholarship Awards

Each year, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation offers awards to undergraduate students in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Among the 441 students receiving this award for the 2025–26 academic year are two Caltech students: Kyle Chen and Indeever Madireddy.

Chen hails from Columbia, Missouri, and is studying mechanical engineering with an advanced track in thermodynamics and energy. Chen entered Caltech unsure of his future major but says he is happy with his choice.

"Mechanical engineering core classes like ME 11 and ME 72, combined with my summer SURFs [Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships] in related sciences, have really opened my eyes to the world of mechanical engineering and its impact on this world," Chen says.

Chen has been mentored at Caltech by Jean-Philippe Avouac, the Earle C. Anthony Professor of Geology and Mechanical and Civil Engineering and associate director of the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies; Chiara Daraio, the G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics and a Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator; and Guillaume Blanquart, professor of mechanical engineering.

"I'm really honored to have been selected to win a Goldwater fellowship. It's a big step in my career and will hopefully impact me for many years to come," Chen says.

Madireddy grew up in San Jose and is majoring in bioengineering. "Bi 1x, the introductory laboratory methods course for bioengineering majors, was a really formative course for me," Madireddy says. "We carried out some intriguing and insightful experiments over the term that really helped define my outlook towards science and research."

Madireddy, who hopes to eventually study virology or genetics in graduate school, has been mentored at Caltech by Pamela Bjorkman, the David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering and Merkin Institute Professor; Kaihang Wang, an assistant professor of biology and biological engineering; and Gözde Demirer, the Claire Booth Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering.

"The Goldwater Scholarship is not just a reflection of the work I've put in over the past two years, but also indicative of the incredible support I have had from my mentors and teachers," Madireddy says. "I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to study and learn from the best at Caltech."

The Goldwater Foundation was established by the US Congress in 1986. It first offered scholarships in 1989 and has now awarded funds to 11,162 students according to its 2025 press release. The fellowship honors Barry Goldwater, a longtime senator from the state of Arizona and major general in the Air Force Reserve who ran for the United States presidency in 1964. Although Goldwater himself did not graduate from college, he had a passionate interest in science and technology.