Franco Miyashiro, a neuroscience and biochemistry major at Ramapo College of New Jersey, was selected as the college’s first-ever recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship for the 2026-2027 academic year, according to an April 9 announcement.
The Goldwater Scholarship is one of the oldest and most prestigious undergraduate scholarships in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Miyashiro’s achievement marks a milestone for Ramapo College and highlights opportunities for first-generation students in STEM disciplines.
Miyashiro is among 454 scholars nationwide chosen from institutions such as Princeton University, Duke University, and the University of California at Berkeley. The scholarship program was established in 1986 to support outstanding sophomores and juniors interested in research careers within STEM fields. “The Goldwater Scholarship is widely considered the most prestigious undergraduate STEM scholarship, and they couldn’t have chosen a more deserving student than Franco,” said Rebecca Root, director of prestigious fellowships and scholarships at Ramapo College. “Franco is an exceptional young scientist and a star within our McNair, first-gen and Honors communities.”
As a McNair Scholar and member of several academic programs at Ramapo College—including its Honors Program—Miyashiro said being selected felt both exciting and surreal. “I am happy that I am able to represent first-generation Latino college students. I feel like this award is very important to me in that sense because it just opens so many more doors for me,” he said.
For his application essay, Miyashiro proposed advancing research on fear memory renewal using rat models—a project he conducts with Dr. Christian Reich in Ramapo’s Behavioral Neuroscience Lab. He explained that understanding how fear memories are renewed could have implications for anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder treatment strategies.
Reich praised his mentee: “Franco is passionate about neuroscience and is one of the rare high-achieving students that I have the privilege of teaching and am mentoring in my lab.” Miyashiro credited mentors including Reich; Dr. Sandra Suarez; director of the McNair Scholars Program; Dr. Naseem Choudhury; professor of psychology; as well as experiences like participating last summer in Rutgers New Brunswick’s Child Health Institute Summer Research Program (CHIRP), which focuses on mechanisms underlying childhood diseases through hands-on laboratory work.
Looking ahead, Miyashiro plans to pursue a joint MD/PhD program with interests spanning psychiatry research into pharmacology—the biological mechanisms behind psychiatric illnesses—and hopes to help other first-generation Latino students achieve similar opportunities through scholarships like Goldwater’s.
“I really want to help others get the scholarship because it really does make a mark on your career,” he said.
