Three Harvey Mudd Juniors Receive Prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship

Three Harvey Mudd College juniors received the 2026 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, the most prestigious national award for undergraduate researchers in science, technology, mathematics and engineering. Johnson Ho ’27, Cole Plepel ’27 and Elio Thadhani ’27 were recognized for their exceptional research efforts in STEM disciplines.

Johnson Ho ’27

Johnson Ho, a chemistry major, conducted green chemistry research with Donald A. Strauss Professor of Chemistry David Vosburg. Since his first year, Ho has been researching the use of mild peptide-coupling reagents to form carbon-carbon bonds and synthesizing probes for protein assays. He has also been developing a green, one-pot method for synthesizing triazolodiazepines, a class of pharmaceutically relevant compounds.

Ho is a member of the Chemistry Academic Excellence team and is a mentor for Harvey Mudd’s Summer Institute, working with students underrepresented in STEM. He also volunteers at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. After graduating, Ho plans to pursue a PhD in chemistry and explore his interests in endocrinology or cardiology. 

Cole Plepel ’27

A mathematics and computer science major, Cole Plepel conducted research across numerical linear algebra, combinatorics and quantum information. He studied randomized algorithms for tensor decomposition with Iris and Howard Critchell Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jamie Haddock, focusing on how approximate solutions to large linear systems affect the performance of the alternating least-squares algorithm.

Plepel later joined Harvey Mudd mathematics professor Andrés Vindas Meléndez’s research group, collaborating on work examining symmetries of symmetric edge polytopes. Plepel also worked with physics professor Jason Gallicchio on quantum position verification, evaluating cryptographic vulnerabilities and practical implementation challenges of protocols that use quantum mechanics and relativity to verify location.

Outside of academics, Plepel is a puzzle designer for MuddEscapes, the College’s escape room club. After graduating, he plans to pursue a PhD in cryptography.

Elio Thadhani ’27

Elio Thadhani is a physics major who has conducted research spanning astrophysics and quantum information. He improved a computational tool used to predict the long-term stability of exoplanet systems, and he is first author on a paper published in Research Notes of the AAS. Thadhani later conducted quantum information research, developing a protocol for efficient quantum communication under constrained resources. He contributed to research on quantum position verification and is working on developing and experimentally implementing adaptive entanglement witnessing protocols.

Thadhani serves as a physics tutor and grader, a Core Scholars tutor and a student mentor with the Office of Residential Life. After graduating, he plans to pursue a PhD in physics with a focus on quantum information.

All college sophomores and juniors are eligible to compete for Goldwater scholarships. Each year, the College nominates up to four students, and the Department Chairs Committee serves as the nominating body.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in 1986. The Scholarship Program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.