WashU juniors Margo Crothers and Vikram Karra have received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award that honors students who conduct research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.
Crothers, who is majoring in earth science and in mathematics in Arts & Sciences, is committed to better understanding how Earth’s biological and chemical systems have evolved throughout time. She aspires to conduct research in sedimentary geology and isotope geochemistry and to teach at the university level. At WashU, she has worked in the lab of David Fike, the Glassberg/Greensfelder Distinguished University Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (EEPS) in Arts & Sciences, where she has measured and analyzed stable isotopes. Last summer, Crothers received the prestigious WAVE Fellowship from the California Institute of Technology, where she studied the connection between calcium isotopes and bone mineral imbalance disorders such as osteoporosis.
Outside of the classroom, Crothers, of Lexington, Ky., founded the soup kitchen Feed St. Louis, is president of the EEPS Geoclub and served as station archivist for KWUR-FM 90.3.
Karra, who is majoring in neuroscience in Arts & Sciences, aims to be a physician-scientist advancing neuroscience research and translating discoveries into therapies for neurodegenerative disease. He plans to enroll in a MD/PhD program to develop his skills as a clinician while also advancing his research on the molecular mechanisms behind neurodegeneration. Karra currently works in the lab of Tristan Li, an assistant professor of neuroscience and of genetics at WashU Medicine. There, Karra is investigating microglial dysfunction in tauopathy of Alzheimer’s disease. He received a 2025 WashU SURGE Scholarship and presented at the 2025 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting and 2025 MidStates Undergraduate Research Symposium.
In addition, Karra, of Tinley Park, Ill., is an emergency medical technician for Abbott EMS; volunteer director for MedEd, a WashU student group that delivers heath education to local schools; program director for the Campus Y; and served as volunteer director for Synapse, WashU’s student neuroscience organization.
