FROM STAFF REPORTS

Pratik Talati, 20, of Pelham is among three University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Honors Program students who have been selected as Barry M. Goldwater Scholars for the academic year 2008-2009.

Talati is a sophomore majoring in mathematics and chemistry. In addition to being a student in the Honors Program, he is a student in the Chemistry Scholar and Math Fast Track programs.

He maintains a 4.0 GPA. He recently was awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD)-Rise Summer Internship Program at Max-Plank-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany, where he will analyze novel stress-regulated genes in mice.

Talati has conducted research under the direction of UAB Professor James Meador-Woodruff, M.D. in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology and he has co-authored an abstract. Following graduation, he plans to pursue a combined MD/Ph.D. degree. He is the son of Ashvin and Alka Talati.

Goldwater Scholars are selected on the basis of academic merit. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 70 Rhodes scholarships, 94 Marshall awards and numerous other distinguished fellowships. One- and two-year Goldwater scholarships cover tuition, fees, books and room and board up to $7,500 per year