Mentorship Matters: USU College of Science Honors Scholarship Recipients, Donors

Utah State University alum Bradley Hintze (BS ’09, Biochemistry) says encouragement from his adviser, his professors and his undergraduate research mentor enabled him to push past self-doubt and keep trying.

“Without them, I probably wouldn’t have finished my degree,” said the first-generation college graduate from Sandy, Utah.

Hintze was featured speaker at the USU College of Science’s 2022 Fall Convocation on Sept. 15 on Utah State’s Logan campus. The annual gathering honors the college’s scholarship recipients and donors.

In his talk, Hintze not only praised the mentorship of faculty and staff, but also emphasized the importance of financial support from donors.

“I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to college without scholarships,” he said. “Easing the financial burden of students enables magical changes in their lives.”

A standout Aggie scholar who received the university’s Legacy of Utah State Award in 2008, Hintze continued his education at Duke University, where he earned a doctoral degree in structural biology in 2015. He and his wife, Anne Cherry, and their two sons reside in Durham, North Carolina, where Hintze is a data scientist at Duke Institute for Health Innovation. In 2020, Cherry established the Dr. Bradley J. Hintze Endowed Scholarship in her husband’s honor.

USU Science Dean Michelle Baker congratulated the college’s scholarship recipients on their accomplishments and offered gratitude to the donors who make the scholarships possible.

“We greatly appreciate our supporters, who often provide gifts that make the difference in whether or not our students can pursue their dreams,” Baker said. “We applaud our students for their resilience and determination.”

Students recognized at the convocation included College of Science Scholarship recipients Nathaniel Bee, Rachel Daines, Ethan Dayley, Kayla DeSpain, Kenyon Gale, Owen Graham, Parker Hicks, Reagan Hoopes, Jackson Morley, Logan Nielsen, Heather Stout and Xin Ning Tong.

• Kamie Champlin received the Campbell Scientific Scholarship.

• Tyson Neville is the recipient of the James E. Brown Scholarship.

• Cristian Soto received the Dr. Gary R. and Debra B. Gibbons Scholarship, as well as the Dr. Bradley J. Hintze Endowed Scholarship.

• Joseph Halling and Emma Watts are recipients of the Charles & Rae Perkins Scholarship.

• Madilyn Braunersrither is the recipient of the Charles J. Sorenson Scholarship.

• Brian Ferrara, Caleb Kartchner and David Merkley are recipients of the Dominion Energy Science Scholarship.

• Rhett Fackrell received the Mary Ann McDonald Ebbeler Endowment Scholarship.

• Jackson Morley is the recipient of the Dr. Robert Errol Jones Scholarship.

• Caleb Syndergaard is the recipient of the Joseph E. Greaves Memorial Endowment Fund Scholarship.

• Emma Watts is a recipient of the Oscar Wood Cooley Scholarship.

• Jackson Morley and Tracy Lucas received the Ruth L. Novak Aggie Family Scholarship Endowment.

• Makenna Roberts is the recipient of the Ned and Gail Weinshenker Scholarship.

• Nicola Baird, Seyona Creger, Brian Ferrara, Dakota Finlinson and Caleb Syndergaard are recipients of the Seely-Hinckley Undergraduate Scholarship.

• Sadie Atkinson is the recipient of the Theodore M. Burton Scholarship.

• Carson Stokes is the recipient of the Dr. Robert Errol Jones Scholarship.

• Nikolay Tkachenko received the Claude E. ZoBell Scholarship.

• Max McDermott is the recipient of the Dr. Lawrence H. Piette Graduate Scholarship.

• Mina Hossain and Matthew Yim are recipients of the Joseph Reuel Harris Graduate Scholarship.

• Zengyan Zhang received the Charles Sorenson Graduate Scholarship.

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