BAR HARBOR ? Katrina Zarrella, a sophomore at College of the Atlantic from Foxboro, Mass., has been awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship of $7,500.

Nominated by the science faculty at COA, she is one of 250 students nationwide to receive the honor.

The award, which was designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering, is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields. Zarrella’s long-term goal is to become a behavioral researcher in ichthyology, a branch of zoology that deals with fish, their structure, classification and life histories.

Zarrella spent her winter term completing an internship at the Friday Harbor Laboratories in the San Juan Islands, Wash. The subject of her research was sculpin reproduction. She studied eight species of the spiny fish to determine whether they were internal or external reproducers, examined their nesting habits and preferences for mates. No research existed previously; if the species ever becomes endangered there now will be greater understanding of their biology.