Sibling revelry: Three N.J. brothers win Goldwater Scholarship

    A college student in New Jersey recently became the third brother in his family to win the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. The prize is awarded to college juniors who plan to pursue careers in math, science or engineering.

    Faizan Naqvi moved to the U.S. states from Pakistan to go to the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His two older brothers were already students there.

    “There’s a saying that an intelligent person is one who learns from others’ experiences,” Naqvi said. “My brothers were having fabulous experiences here, so I decided to come over here.”

    The three lived together during Naqvi’s freshman year, and they all studied electrical engineering. When Naqvi applied for the Goldwater Scholarship, his brothers helped him polish his application. He credits the mentorship of his teachers and his close relationship with his brothers for his success, citing the “power of unity” in a family.

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    “My scholarship is a testament to that unity,” Naqvi said. “I’m grateful that God created the circumstances that we were together over here.”

    Gerald Smith, president of the Goldwater Scholarship Foundation, said this is the first time three siblings have won the prize.

    “Usually you don’t have that many really bright kids in one family,” Smith said.

    One of Naqvi’s brothers is now an engineer at Lockheed Martin Corp., and the other is in graduate school at Stanford University. Naqvi says he plans to go to graduate school and do research into electrical engineering or solar physics after he graduates.

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