Utah State University undergraduates Michael Davies and Ashley Starr are 2026 Goldwater Scholars, named in a prestigious national competition that recognizes outstanding achievements by undergraduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The awards were announced March 27 by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which administers the program. Davies and Starr are among 454 awardees selected this year from more than 1,485 nominees nominated by 482 institutions.
With this year’s award recipients, USU boasts 40 Goldwater Scholars and 15 honorable mention recipients since 1998 — numbers that rival the nation’s top universities. Davies is USU’s first Goldwater Scholar from a statewide campus.
“Utah State University is proud to congratulate Michael and Ashley on receiving this prestigious national honor,” said USU President Brad Mortensen. “Goldwater Scholars represent some of the nation’s most promising undergraduate students in STEM fields, and Aggies have been among them for nearly three decades. This recognition reflects both the talent of our students and the outstanding mentorship and research opportunities provided by our faculty.”
This year, USU submitted six nominations for the award; a process, coordinated each year by the USU Honors Program, that begins in November. Nominated this year, in addition to Davies and Starr, were Collin Appleby, Ian Brush, Clay McFadden and Lydia Peck.
Award recipients receive one or two-year scholarships of up to $7,500 per year toward annual tuition and expenses.
“Every student who submitted a Goldwater application this year is an outstanding undergraduate researcher, and USU’s six nominees have demonstrated exceptional scientific research potential,” says Professor Kristine Miller, Honors Program executive director. “USU’s strong culture of undergraduate research and faculty mentoring prepares our students very well for the Goldwater competition, and Dr. Elizabeth Vargis deserves special thanks for her work with students throughout the application process. We are proud of all these students and congratulate Michael and Ashley on being among this year’s Goldwater Scholars.”
“The Goldwater Scholarship is a prestigious national award that recognizes the next generation of leaders in STEM research,” says Vargis, USU’s Goldwater Scholarship faculty mentor, who coaches candidates to prepare competitive applications that reflect their many achievements. “To be truly competitive, applicants must show academic excellence that extends beyond the classroom, and produce scholarly output that pushes the limits of human understanding. Scholarship recipients are among the most promising researchers in their fields at a relatively early point in their research careers.”
Learn more about the scholars:
Michael Davies, 2026 Goldwater Scholar
Major in Environmental Science and Sustainability
A student at USU’s Uintah Basin campus, Davies returned to USU after 12 years away from academia and is employed as a research technician at the Bingham Research Center. Through his degree program, Davies is exploring atmospheric chemistry and meteorology. His research project proposal builds and deploys low-cost snow-depth sensors to better understand the effect of the Wasatch Mountains on low snowfall in the Uinta Basin.
He also plans to use the data alongside novel AI-based methods to identify road-weather conditions from live online Utah Department of Transportation cameras, improving travel safety for drivers navigating isolated road passes in the region. As a non-traditional student, Davies says life lessons he gained during his time away from academia give him the confidence to be more forthright and focused in his academic and research work.
Ashley Starr, 2026 Goldwater Scholar
Major in Wildlife Ecology and Management; Minors in Resource Recreation Management and Sociology
An Honors student, Starr leads the USU Berryman Institute’s human-wildlife conflict student working group. Her work focuses on bridging the gap between social science and ecology in environmental science pursuits.
Her research proposal offers a model for potential black bear and human interactions using satellite data, information about vegetation productivity and temperature anomalies to predict potential conflict areas in Baldwin bear management unit in Michigan.
Starr, a first-generation and non-traditional college student who moved from the Midwest to pursue her passion for public lands, evaluates educational materials from public agencies to determine their effectiveness in minimizing wildlife-human conflicts. Integrating social science with ecological science is essential, she says, for helping the public to care about and understand research results.
The Aggie First Scholar considers her background as a non-traditional student an advantage — diverse life and work experiences have offered her a sense of purpose, and allowed her to commit fully to pursuits in research and education.
Collin Appleby, USU Nominee
Major in Outdoor Product Design
An Undergraduate Research Fellow, Appleby’s research and design work focuses on integrating cutting-edge technologies into applications for outdoor gear.
Their proposal for the Goldwater nomination grew out of a collaboration with the company Outdoor Research and NASA’s technology transfer program, to explore potential uses for self-healing polymers that can repair themselves when exposed to sunlight. Such materials could be used for protective wear in things like mountain biking, motorcycling and rock climbing.
Appleby, who served on active duty with the U.S. Air Force as a combat controller, is a transfer student who studied outdoor leadership in Colorado before coming to USU. They approach design with a research orientation and says the two skills are complementary halves of a pie that bridge conceptual and technical feasibility.
Appleby credits time at USU and the mentorship in the program for helping develop the technical and collaborative skills to complete complex projects with multiple players.
Ian Brush, USU Nominee
Major in Cellular and Molecular Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Psychology
An Honors student, Brush studies the division of labor in ant colonies which, he says, is a fundamental evolutionary concept and how societies arise and develop in nature.
With faculty mentors Chris Smith, James Pitts and Srijan Seal, Brush is investigating how controlled muscle breakdown in ant queens influences how they reallocate nutrients to achieve higher reproductive output.
He is a recipient of the Kathryn Wanless Foundation’s Sunshine Terrace Scholarship, and also received a competitive USU Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities (URCO) grant to support his research.
Brush plans to pursue a doctoral degree in biology and looks forward to further research into genetic processes with direct human application, including medical research. He serves as an officer with the USU Entomology Club and served on the USU Honors Last Lecture committee. Beyond the lab and classroom, Brush enjoys reading, writing, fishing, hiking and biking.
Clay McFadden, USU Nominee
Major in Biological Engineering; Minors in Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry
An Honors student, McFadden is a research assistant in USU’s Tissue Engineering Lab. With faculty mentor Elizabeth Vargis, he investigates the effects of reduced pigmentation in retinal pigment epithelial cells and the role it plays in age-related macular degeneration. The undergrad researcher is also employed as a pharmacy technician at a local pharmacy specializing in diabetes care.
McFadden represents the College of Engineering on the Honors Student Advisory Board, serves as a volunteer for a community garden that supplies fresh produce to the Cache Community Food Pantry and is the founder and president of Aggie Improv. He plans for pursue graduate study in medical research, with a focus on development of surgical devices and implants.
Lydia Peck, USU Nominee
Major in Biology; Minor in Japanese
An Undergraduate Research Fellow, Peck studies the inner ear and brainstem. With faculty mentor Chris Dakin, the Honors student is exploring aspects of vestibular stimulation, which can be used as a therapeutic tool.
Peck is the recipient of multiple scholarships, including the Sigma Zonk Fratority Scholarship, the Andrea Watts Saxton Make It All Better Scholarship, the University Honors Program Morse Scholarship, the Conway L. Maughan and Rula H. Maughan Scholarship, the University Honors Program Dare to Know Book Scholarship and the Hill Air Force Base Spouses Club Scholarship.
Her future goals include study of epidemiology, possible pursuit of an MBA degree and working aboard. Beyond academia, Peck enjoys doing gymnastics, participating in the USU Japanese Club, and reading fantasy and science fiction.
Lael Gilbert, public information officer for USU’s Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, contributed to this announcement.
Previous USU Goldwater Honorees
Note: The Goldwater Foundation discontinued awarding honorable mentions in 2020.
2024
Sophia Hessami, biological engineering.
2022
Bruce Brewer, mathematics.
Cristina Chirvasa, fisheries and aquatic sciences, wildlife ecology management.
Wesley Mills, physics.
2021
Ethan Ancell, statistics and computational mathematics.
Manuel Santana, computational mathematics.
2020
Matthew Hogan, physics.
Andrew Kjar, biological engineering.
Jenny R. Whiteley, physics.
2019
Bryce Frederickson, mathematics.
Ethan Hammer, conservation and restoration ecology, ecology and wildlife.
2018
David Maughan, physics and mathematics (Honorable Mention).
2017
Jake Christensen, physics.
Thomas Hill, mathematics.
A.J. Walters, biological engineering, biochemistry and biology (Honorable Mention).
2016
Benjamin Lovelady, physics.
Caroline Bourgeois, biology and biochemistry (Honorable Mention).
Alexander Cook, biological engineering (Honorable Mention).
2015
Kathryn Sweet, biochemistry and physics.
David Griffin, physics and computer science (Honorable Mention).
2014
Rachel Nydegger Rozum, physics and mathematics.
David Griffin, physics and computer science (Honorable Mention).
2013
J. Tyler Gish, chemistry and physics.
Jordan Rozum, physics and mathematics.
2012
Mitch Dabling, civil engineering.
Sarah Mousley, mathematics.
Jordan Rozum, physics and mathematics (Honorable Mention).
Rachel Ward, physics and mathematics (Honorable Mention).
2011
Linsey Johnson, physics.
Brooke Siler Roach, biochemistry and economics.
Brian Tracy, physics.
Karen Nielsen, mechanical and aerospace engineering (Honorable Mention).
2010
Daniel Fenn, physics.
Justin Koeln, mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Robert Call, physics (Honorable Mention).
2009
Taren McKenna, physics and mathematics.
Cody Tramp, molecular biology and biochemistry.
B.J. Myers, physics and computer science (Honorable Mention).
2008
Jodie Barker Ream, physics.
Tamara Jeppson, geology and physics.
Sydney Chamberlin, physics and mathematics (Honorable Mention).
Cody Tramp, molecular biology and biochemistry (Honorable Mention).
2007
Jennifer Albretsen-Roth, physics.
Arthur Mahoney, computer science and mathematics.
Jodie Barker Ream, physics (Honorable Mention).
2006
Logan McKenna, electrical engineering.
Heidi Wheelwright, physics.
Keith Warnick, physics (Honorable Mention).
2004
Stephanie Chambers, biology.
David Hatch, physics.
2002
Jamie B. Jorgensen, physics and mathematics.
2001
Lara B. Anderson, physics and mathematics.
1998
Jeff Jacobs, mechanical engineering.