Virginia Tech student named Goldwater Scholar
Lacey Ngo has been awarded a 2025 Goldwater Scholarship, a federal merit award for undergraduate science, mathematics, and engineering students.
Rising Virginia Tech senior Lacey Ngo (third from left), recipient of a 2025 Goldwater Scholarship, studies biomedical engineering and nanomedicine. Outside of the classroom, Ngo builds prosthetics through the Blacksburg nonprofit Hope to Walk. Photo courtesy of Lacey Ngo.
After an accident left her severely injured, a young girl needed a prosthetic arm. Lacey Ngo helped design it.
It was Ngo’s first project with the Blacksburg-based prosthetics nonprofit Hope to Walk, which provides custom assistive devices to people in developing countries. Ngo now leads a student production team of 20.
Through a range of experiences — including her work with Hope to Walk, the Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad, and research experiences spanning canine cancer and organ failure — Ngo has explored her longstanding interests in science, engineering, and medicine.
Now the rising Virginia Tech senior has been awarded a Goldwater Foundation scholarship. The foundation, established by Congress in 1986, offers highly selective scholarships to support U.S. undergraduates as they pursue “research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.”
Ngo’s scientific trajectory began while she was a high school freshman. In 2019, the Roanoke native began her research with Virginia Tech professors Ryan Senger and John Robertson through their company, Rametrix Technology.
“Lacey Ngo is a multitalented, highly promising biomedical engineer and physician in the making,” said Robertson, who has since retired from the university. “Lacey has co-authored and contributed to multiple peer-reviewed publications, including a seminal paper on a method to detect certain cancers in dogs and in humans.”
With Robertson and Senger, Ngo contributed to research that applies Raman spectroscopy — a technique that measures the vibrational patterns of molecules when struck by light — to detect cancerous tissue and identify organ failure. She is currently analyzing an extensive sample collection and clinical dataset from canine patients that may provide a means for early detection of a deadly malignancy that also affects humans.
Ngo was a volunteer research assistant in Carla Finkielstein’s lab at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC when she came across an email announcement about Goldwater Scholarship applications. Reading through, she felt she fit the criteria.
“I thought, 'People pursuing a career in research? That sounds like me,'” said Ngo, who hopes to become a physician scientist, earning both master's and doctoral degrees. “But then I looked at how competitive it was.”
From a candidate pool that can exceed 5,000, fewer than 1,500 students secure nominations from their institutions and fewer than 500 ultimately receive the award. Those who also intend to pursue careers in medicine — like Ngo — face additional scrutiny from the review committee over their commitments to research. The odds gave Ngo pause.
“When I brought it up to Dr. Finkelstein, she said, ‘Actually, I was going to tell you to apply for that,’” Ngo said.
“Encouraging her to pursue the Goldwater was an easy decision,” said Finkielstein, a professor at the institute and director of the Virginia Tech Molecular Diagnostics Lab. “Lacey is an outstanding student whose curiosity, focus, and passion for science are immediately clear. She brings both intellect and determination to her research, making her an ideal candidate. I have no doubt she will continue to advance medicine and science at the highest level.”
Support from the scholarship will help Ngo complete her final year as an undergraduate. As a double major, Ngo is working toward a degree in biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering and nanomedicine in the College of Science.
Beyond financial support, the Goldwater program connects recipients to a network of past awardees, integrating them into a community of aspiring scientists and established scholars. Ngo said the mentorship component has already allowed her to connect with peers and experts in science and medicine.
“My motto growing up has always been to give back where I can, and it's really heartwarming to see that a lot of other people out there want the same,” Ngo said. “We're all supporting each other to further science. It’s not to publish this many articles or win this many awards. It's for the sake of helping people.”
“Her dedication to her work and her team is inspiring,” Robertson said. “Lacey is a superstar who will change the world.”
Until then, Ngo continues to change one young amputee’s world, updating her prosthetic design with realistic fingers so that she can paint her nails.
