USU College of Science Recognizes Top Scholars of 2024

Utah State University’s College of Science hosted an awards ceremony and reception April 5 to recognize students, faculty and staff for outstanding achievements.

“Today, we honor our students for their hard work and for their dedicated service,” said College of Science Dean Michelle Baker. “We also honor our faculty and staff for their mentorship of students, excellence in research, exemplary teaching, dedication in outreach and for their efforts in providing meaningful learning opportunities.”

Valedictorian for the college is Sterling Sturgill. Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty member Ryan Jackson will be Sturgill’s faculty escort at May 2 commencement exercises.

The college’s Scholar of the Year is Emeline Haroldsen.

The college’s Dean’s Scholars are Nathan Butler, Nicole Cook, Spencer Fairbanks, Louis Falck, Lindsay Hand, Tucker Hathaway, Kaleb Keller, Josh McClung, David Mendenhall, Kollin Murphy and Alex Smith.

Sydney Schmidt was recognized as the college’s Peak Prize Undergraduate Researcher of the Year.

Sophia Withers is the college’s Undergraduate Teaching Fellow of the Year and Isabella Lonardo was recognized as the college’s nominee for the 2024 Legacy of Utah State Award.

Jaxton Winder, who served as science senator for the 2023-24 academic year, was thanked and honored for his service.

Jacey Hopkin and Zachary Zito were the college’s 2024 Goldwater Scholar nominees.

Emma Krolczyk is the Graduate Student (MS) Researcher of the Year, and Helen Bond Plylar is the college’s Graduate Student (Ph.D.) Researcher of the Year.

C. Xavier Parent is the college’s Graduate Student Teacher of the Year.

Megan Raddatz, a doctoral candidate in the USU Neuroscience Program and a member of Biology faculty member Erin Bobeck’s lab, received the university’s 2024 Legacy of Utah State Award at the April 5 Robins Awards.

Mike Long received the college’s 2024 Staff Excellence Award.

Courtney Streich was recognized as a USU Outstanding New Advisor Finalist, and Myra Brown was recognized as a USU Professional Advisor of the Year Finalist.

Jordan Truex was recognized as the university’s 2024 USU Outstanding Professional Advisor of the Year.

Alexis Ault is the college’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year.

Nghiem Nguyen was named Undergraduate Faculty Mentor of the Year, and Stephen Walsh was recognized as the college’s Peak Prize Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year.

Faculty Teacher of the Year is Melissa Kofoed, andthe college’s Faculty Researcher of the Year is Soukaina Filali Boubrahimi.

Daniel Coster was the college’s nominee for the Faculty University Service Award.

Also recognized at the ceremony was Cazier Professor Steve Scheiner, who received USU’s Cazier Lifetime Achievement Award at the university’s Employee Awards Ceremony on March 27.

Perpetual Motivator Awards were presented to Jared Hileman (Student Category), Hollie Richards (Staff Category) and Sara Freeman (Faculty Category). Nominees included Brennan Bean, Myra Brown, Elizabeth Christensen, James Coburn, Scott Ensign, Kim Garrity, Mari Harris, Traci Hillyard, Mary McFadden, Mary-Ann Muffoletto, Lisa Poulsen, Joe Shope, Courtney Streich and Gary Tanner.

Jan Sojka was honored for 45 years of service, and Andy Anderson was honored for 40 years of service.

Recognized for35 years of service were Richard Cutler, J.R. Dennison and Joe Koebbe.

Scott Ensign, Jim Powell, Mark Riffe and Lance Seefeldt were recognized for 30 years of service.

Recognized for 25 years of service were Lisa Berreau, Shane Brewer and TC Shen.

Ted Campbell, Joanie Hevel, Dean Mathias, Mary-Ann Muffoletto, Dominique Pautet, Linda Skabelund and Tonya Triplett were honored for 20 years of service.

Recognized for 15 years of service were Tyson Chappell, Jessica Habashi, Mike Long, Nghiem Nguyen and Mark Noirot.

Nick Dickenson, Carl Farley, Kim Garrity, Zach Gompert, KimberLeigh Hadfield, Colleen Jones, Lauren Lucas and Dennis Newell were recognized for 10 years of service.

First-year faculty recognized at the ceremony were Ananta Acharya, Xinyi “Luci” Liu, Seth Poulsen, Sindura Kularajan and Tian Xie.

The College of Science includes the academic departments of Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics & Statistics, Geosciences, and Physics.