ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Dylan Major of the UNC Asheville cross country/track & field team recently received the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. The Goldwater Scholarship is the preeminent national scholarship awarded to undergraduates studying the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. Major is one of just 308 students across the country majoring in the natural sciences to receive the Goldwater Scholarship this year.
"I am immensely proud of the work that Dylan has completed in the classroom and I was thrilled when I heard that he won the Goldwater Scholarship," said UNC Asheville Head Cross Country Coach Adam Puett. "Dylan is the true definition of the word student-athlete and winning the Goldwater Scholarship highlights his dedication to being a student. UNC Asheville's faculty does a fabulous job of supporting our students, especially when it comes to research, and I want to thank them for their dedication and support. This award will be great for Dylan's future as he begins to look into his career in meteorology and atmospheric science."
Major joins just four other students from UNC Asheville to ever be awarded this Scholarship. Along with Major, two others were former Bulldog student-athletes in
Blanton Gillespie ('18) from track & field/cross country and
Grace Volk ('21) from the volleyball team.
Major, who was the men's cross country team's Big South All-Academic honoree last fall, is an atmospheric sciences and computer science double major, with a minor in applied mathematics. As a recipient of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, Major will conduct research to evaluate an AI-based blended marine air temperature (MAT) dataset as part of a full-time paid internship this summer with NOAA and the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS). He currently serves as a precipitation and climate studies research intern with NOAA/NCICS.