Old Bridge Native Ravi Sangani Selected As Elite Goldwater Scholar

OLD BRIDGE, NJ — Old Bridge native Ravi Sangani, currently a junior studying public health at The College of New Jersey, was recently named a 2025 Goldwater Scholar at the college.

It is one of the most prestigious national honors for undergraduate students in mathematics, science and engineering.

Sangani — who is majoring in public health and minoring in biology and chemistry; he will graduate next year — was chosen from among 1,350 faculty-nominated students. He was among just 441 young people selected for the scholarship, which provides up to $7,500 to support academic expenses.

He graduated high school from the Middlesex County Academy for Allied Health and Biomedical Sciences.

This recognition comes as Sangani continues to advance his own ophthalmology research at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. There, he is studying how glucose transport in the retina affects visual function at the cellular level and how disruptions in cellular transport may contribute to degenerative eye diseases like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. At the same time, he’s completing a College of New Jersey capstone research project at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with plans to submit his first publication with first authorship soon.

This summer, Sangani will participate in a program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Vision Institute, where he’ll focus on retinal regeneration and stem cell therapies. Long term, he plans to pursue graduate studies in neurobiology and regenerative medicine, aiming to develop therapies that can help in underserved communities worldwide.

“If we can find ways to restore vision, especially in communities without resources, that’s where I want to be,” he said.