USU College of Science Recognizes Top Scholars of 2022

Utah State University’s College of Science hosted an awards ceremony and reception April 21, 2022, 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 Interim Dean Michelle Baker. “We also honor our faculty and staff for their mentorship of students, excellence in research, dedication in outreach and for their efforts in providing meaningful learning opportunities.”

Valedictorian for the college is Porter Ellis and the college’s Scholar of the Year is Ethan Ancell.

Greta Anderson, Ashley Flake, Cate Kartchner, Emma Lindley, Arianna Towne, and Abby Tucker are the college’s Dean’s Scholars.

Manuel Santana was recognized as the college’s Peak Prize Undergraduate Researcher of the Year. Ayzia Ford is the college’s Undergraduate Teaching Fellow of the Year and Chloe Geddes was recognized as the college’s nominee for the 2021-2022 Legacy of Utah State Award.

Jonathan Mousley, who served as Science Senator for the 2021-22 academic year, was thanked and honored for his service.

At the ceremony, USU’s 2022 Goldwater Scholars Brian Brewer and Wesley Mills, along with Goldwater Scholar nominee Heather Allen, all of whom are College of Science students, were recognized.

Makenna Johnson is the Graduate Student (MS) Researcher of the Year, and was also named the university’s 2022 Master’s Student Researcher of the Year at the Robins Awards, held April 8.

Nikita Fedik is the college’s Graduate Student (PhD) Researcher of the Yearand Megen Kepas is Graduate Student Teacher of the Year.

James Coburn and Joe Shope received the college’s 2022 Staff Excellence Awards.

Kevin Moon is the college’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year.

Jessica Habashi was named Undergraduate Faculty Mentor of the Year and Sara Freeman was recognized as the college’s Peak Prize Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year. Faculty Teacher of the Year is Erik Falor.

The college’s Faculty Researcher of the Year is Susannah French, who was named the university’s 2022 Faculty Researcher of the Year at the USU Faculty Awards Ceremony, held March 31.

Vicki Allan was the college’s nominee for the Faculty University Service Award, and received the university-wide award at the USU Faculty Awards Ceremony, held March 31.

Also recognized at the ceremony was Ian Anderson, who was the college’s nominee for the Cazier Lifetime Achievement Award.

Brett Adams and David Farrelly were honored at the ceremony as 2022 retirees.

Vicki Allan, James Evans and Bela Fejer were honored for 35 years of service.

Recognized for30 years of service were Hengda Cheng, Nick Flann, Mike Taylor, Charles Torre and Zhi-Qiang Wang.

Bradley Davidson, Alvan Hengge, Cora Price, Karalee Ransom and Eric Rowley were honored for 25 years of service.

Recognized for 20 years of service were Buckley Banham, Vladimir Kulyukin and Yucheng Zhao. Sean Johnson, Tony Lowry, Mair Murray, Kady Schneiter and Kevin Young were honored for 15 years of service.

First-year faculty recognized at the ceremony were Isaac Cho, Amanda Cangelosi, Hamid Karimi, Alyaa Abdelaziz, Janet Duncan, Paul Mickelson, Zilong Song, Steve Walsh and Alan Wisler.

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