Ithaca College

Dallas Fonseca '18 (Mathematics, Biochemistry) was recently named a 2017 Barry Goldwater Scholar.

Widely considered one of the most competitive and distinguished awards offered in the sciences, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship is granted annually to college sophomores and juniors from the United States who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering.

Fonseca was among 240 students selected by the Board of Trustees from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation for the 2017-18 academic year. Goldwater Scholars were chosen from a field of 1,286 students nominated by campus representatives and faculty from 2,000 colleges and universities across the country. Recipients will receive up to $7,500 to cover tuition costs, fees, books, and room and board. Since 1989, the Foundation has awarded 7,921 scholarships worth approximately 63 million dollars.

Dallas's research with Professor Te-Wen Lo uses C. elegans as a model organism to understand how two very similar proteins mediate distinct biological functions.  The two proteins, PUF-8 and FBF both act in the germ line to promote oogenesis but their specific functions are mediated by their RNA-binding specificity.  Dallas is using the genome-editing tool, CRISPR/Cas9, to generate in vivo mutations that alter RNA-binding to better understand the structural requirements for binding specificity and as a result, protein function.

In addition to the Goldwater Scholarship, Dallas will be working as an AMGEN scholar at MIT this summer. Dallas Fonseca joins Rachel Snyder as the second IC Goldwater Scholar in the past three years. Ithaca College and the School of Humanities and Sciences are incredibly proud of Mr. Fonseca and the faculty who helped him accomplish this prestigious achievement!