OSU students gained widespread attention with numerous national achievements in the 2017 school year.

• OSU has four Fulbright U.S. Student Award winners. Christina Anaya (see photo), a doctoral student, is studying parasites and their hosts in Iceland. Senior Sydney Stewart joined a team of researchers from the Institute of Animal Sciences in Germany. Candace Square, a graduate student, is in Israel as an ambassador for the U.S. Colton Flynn, a doctoral student in geography, is conducting research in Ethiopia.
• Dorien J. Tate (see photos), an OSU senior bass trombone performance major, won first place in the 2017 U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” National Collegiate Instrumental Solo Competition, becoming the first bass trombonist to ever win the competition. The honor earned Tate a place on the west steps of the U.S. Capitol Building, where he performed as a soloist with the U.S. Army Concert Band on June 8 and 9.
• Several OSU students won prestigious national honors. Emma Kincade, from Broken Arrow, earned a Udall Scholarship. Jaryd Hinch, from Ponca City, became OSU’s fifth Fulbright this spring and will do research in Estonia. Bret Robertson, from Inola, and Katelyn Oquin, from Burneyville, received American Concrete Institute Fellowships. Shelbi Gambrell, from Shawnee, was named a Newman Civic Fellow.
• Stillwater junior Nicholas Nelsen was named a Barry Goldwater Scholar, a top national honor for students seeking careers in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. Nelsen is in a triple degree program, pursuing honors bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and mathematics, and a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. He is the 20th student from OSU to be awarded the Goldwater scholarship.
• For the fifth time in four years, OSU earned a first place award at the National Trumpet Competition in March. Senior Natalie Upton won the solo undergraduate division and sophomore Noah Mennenga was third. Upton’s title win makes OSU becomes the only university to win every collegiate category at the competition, capturing undergraduate solo, graduate solo, small ensemble and large ensemble honors.
• OSU has renewed a unique partnership that allows Department of Music students to play main stage concerts with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. Five string students will train and play with the orchestra while pursuing their Master of Music degree. Financial support for the two-year program is provided by the Patti Johnson Wilson Foundation. There are only two such programs in the nation and OSU’s program was the first.
• The OSU School of Entrepreneurship’s Mito Materials team finished second in the Rice Business Plan Competition in early April. It is the nation’s premier business plan competition. The OSU team won $50,000 and team member Haley Kurtz won the Courageous Women Award, which added another $40,000. The chair of the Central Texas Angel Network invited the team to present to the Austin group.