Jody A. Goad Memorial Scholarship

The Gamma Iota Chapter established a scholarship in memory of Jody Aaron Goad, Gamma Iota 1995, who passed away in 2003 of brain cancer. The scholarship is awarded to a student of chemistry or any chemistry-related major attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va.

Jody was Master Alchemist of Gamma Iota Chapter from 1997 to 1998 and Reporter from 1996 to 1997. While Master Alchemist, collegiate membership at Gamma Iota Chapter increased 150 percent, and the chapter earned a Three-Star Chapter Award and the Clyde B. Hutchison Award for Best Professional Activities.

 

 

 

 

Heather Pendergrass, Gamma Iota 2014 – 2015 Jody A. Goad Memorial Scholarship Award Recipient

Heather Pendergrass is a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in both chemistry and biochemistry. She was initiated into the Gamma Iota Chapter in Fall 2013 and has recently been elected Master of Ceremonies for the upcoming pledge year. The Goad Memorial Scholarship is the second award she has received through the Gamma Iota Chapter. Earlier last year she also received the Outstanding Brother Award, a newly instated chapter award recognizing commitment to the chapter above and beyond regular brotherhood duties. Heather has spent the last two and a half years as an undergraduate researcher for Dr. Joseph Merola’s organometallic chemistry lab, where her duties include synthesizing new drugs and catalysts under multiple graduate students. Her plans for the future include graduate school to earn her Ph.D. in chemistry so that she can pursue a career in drug discovery and design.