By Chelsea Comadoll, PhD
Four MNU junior STEM majors have the honor of being nominated for the esteemed Goldwater Scholarship: Samuel Powell, Aidan Thomas, Braedan Jones, and Nathaniel Bowman. Of these nominees, Sam Powell was selected as a 2024 Goldwater Scholar, becoming the first in MNU’s history.
The scholarship, organized by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, is the most prestigious national award recognizing undergraduates with the highest potential for a successful career in STEM research. Scholars receive a $7,500 scholarship to support their studies during senior year and the opportunity to connect with former Goldwater Scholars working in a field related to the student’s career goals.
Sam is a junior double majoring in chemistry and biology with a minor in psychology and was among 438 students who received the scholarship nationwide in 2024. His impressive resume includes two years of research at MNU with Assistant Professor Dr. Chelsea Comadoll in synthetic organic methodology. He coauthored a publication with Comadoll and her KU collaborators in Inorganic Chemistry, participated in two chemistry National Science Foundation REU programs (2023, UC Irvine with Dr. Vy Dong; 2024, University of Utah with Dr. Matthew Sigman), and gave two presentations of his research at American Chemical Society conferences.
Sam has an unblemished record of academic excellence in the classroom, and many different leadership experiences in teaching and mentoring at MNU.
“I have been blessed tremendously by the support of my classmates and the mentorship of my professors, particularly Dr. Comadoll,” he said. “I would not have achieved this title without them. This is not only a prestigious award which will vastly improve my graduate school applications, but it also gives me the opportunity to connect with an invaluable network of scholars who are currently walking the path I hope to follow one day.”
In his Goldwater application, Sam acknowledged MNU professors Dr. Comadoll, Dr. Jordan Mantha, and Dr. Vy Dong of UC Irvine as significant mentors through his education. He plans to pursue a PhD in organic chemistry and become an industry researcher in medicinal chemistry.
