Angelo State University

Angelo State University honored its 2025 Outstanding Graduate Students, as well as the recipients of four superlative awards, during the recent Graduate Research Symposium and Awards Ceremony in the Houston Harte University Center. The honorees were nominated by faculty in their respective academic departments, and each received a certificate of recognition. The complete list of honorees, listed by their hometowns and fields of study, is available at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University has announced the recipients of the 2025 Presidential Award and Distinguished Student Awards for the Class of 2025 that will graduate later this month. Alejandro Rodarte-Martinez, a biology major from San Angelo, has been selected for the 2025 Presidential Award as the top graduate in his class, while five other ASU graduating seniors have been selected for 2025 Distinguished Student Awards from their respective academic colleges. All of the award recipients will be recognized at ASU's May 16-17 commencement ceremonies. The Distinguished Student Award recipients are: Sydney Anderson of Alpine - Archer College of Health and Human Services Isabela Casillas of San Angelo - College of Arts and Humanities Audrey Spearman of Christoval - College of Education Matthew Barton of Leander - College of Science and Engineering Mia Kilman of San Saba - Norris-Vincent College of Business. ASU's Academic Excellence Committee hosted an awards ceremony May 5 in the Houston Harte University Center to honor all the award recipients and nominees. Each was presented a recognition plaque by Dr. Don Topliff, provost and vice president for academic affairs. Additional nominees were William Gunner Brown of Saginaw (accounting), Gavin Cardwell of San Angelo (mechanical engineering), Christina McDowell of San Angelo (chemistry), Patience Price of Novice (psychology) and Avery Schafer of San Antonio (English/Spanish). See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State has announced the recipients of the Presidential Award and Distinguished Student Awards for the Class of 2024 that will graduate during spring commencement ceremonies May 10-11. Christian Bell, a biology major from Midland, has been selected to receive the 2024 Presidential Award as the top graduate in his class, while five other ASU graduating seniors have been selected for 2024 Distinguished Student Awards from their respective academic colleges. The Distinguished Student Award recipients are: Damian Macias of Vancourt - Archer College of Health and Human Services Katherine Spitzer of El Paso - College of Arts and Humanities Delaney Grimes of San Angelo - College of Education Tressa Reading of Uvalde - College of Science and Engineering Clayton Edmiston of Christoval - Norris-Vincent College of Business. ASU's Academic Excellence Committee hosted an awards ceremony April 29 in the Houston Harte University Center to honor all the award recipients and nominees. Each was presented a recognition plaque by ASU President Ronnie Hawkins Jr. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Emily Maxey of Phoenix, Ariz., has been selected to receive Angelo State University's 2023 Presidential Award as the top graduate in her class, and she will be recognized at ASU's May 12-13 commencement ceremonies. Emily Maxey was nominated by the Department of Physics and Geosciences. She is a physics and computer science double major with mathematics minor, and she graduates with High University Honors after completing the Honors Program curriculum. She received numerous scholarships, including the ASU Distinguished Scholarship, Distinguished Honors Scholarship, Alvin New Family Honors Scholarship, Chase Physics Scholarship and Dr. Mills Memorial Scholarship. Her stellar academic performance earned her induction into the Sigma Pi Sigma national physics honor society. She was also actively engaged in campus affairs, serving as secretary and president of the Honors Student Association and outreach coordinator for the Society of Physics Students, and participating in the Women in Physics organization. She also served the Department of Computer Science as a tutor and Summer Code Camp instructor. Maxey excelled in undergraduate research, earning two separate Undergraduate Faculty-Mentored Research Grants and presenting at regional and national physics, science and honors conferences. Additionally, she secured highly competitive external placements, including a Research Experience for Undergraduates in applied computing at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and a software engineering internship with the Data Science and Machine Learning Team at CarMax's technology hub in Richmond, Virginia. She has been awarded a Distinguished Graduate Student Assistantship to pursue a Ph.D. in physics at Texas Tech University and plans to pursue a career in university teaching and research. See the full news release at angelo.edu/news.