Biology Researcher Sydni Au Hoy ’22 Earns Chapman’s Highest Student Honor

BY JOY JUEDES

Sydni Au Hoy ‘22 speaks at Schmid College of Science and Technology’s degree ceremony in May 2022.

“Being a recipient of the Cheverton Award is an honor and a reflection of ... the invaluable support present around every corner of this institution.”

– Sydni Au Hoy ’22 An alumna that faculty mentor Greg Goldsmith calls “one of the single most remarkable undergraduate students I have ever worked with at Chapman” has received the university’s most prestigious undergraduate student honor.

Sydni Au Hoy ’22 earned the Cecil F. Cheverton Award during the Campus Leadership Awards ceremony in May at Fish Interfaith Center. Au Hoy, a biological sciences major from Honolulu, finished her undergraduate studies in fall 2021.

“Being a recipient of the Cheverton Award is an honor and a reflection of the many learning experiences I have encountered these past four years, the exceptional mentorship provided by Chapman faculty and the invaluable support present around every corner of this institution,” Au Hoy says.

She spoke at Schmid College of Science and Technology’s degree ceremony in May.

“As college students, we have the opportunity to not only dream about becoming a biotech engineer or a data analyst or a healthcare practitioner, we have the opportunity to pursue that dream,” Au Hoy said. “Schmid provided us with the tools we needed to take our first steps, while Chapman offered us endless opportunities to use them. But it was our faculty, our mentors and our fellow peers who truly showed us that even as undergraduate students, we have the capacity to reach incredible achievements.”

Au Hoy, who worked as an orthopedic medical scribe at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute after graduation, also received the 2021 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize for her research on seizures. She published an article in Epilepsy and Behavior Reports journal and did research on the response of higher education to COVID-19 and plant microbiology.

Goldsmith, an assistant professor of biology and Au Hoy’s faculty mentor, says the Cheverton winner is “remarkably humble, and would never admit as much, but I think we have only seen a preview of all that she will do in the future.”

Au Hoy was co-president of the Be KYnd to Your Heart Foundation, which spreads awareness of cardiac arrests. She served as student representative on Schmid’s diversity, equity and inclusion task force and a committee leader on the Schmid Student Leadership Council.

“She has a drive to learn, a maturity that belies her years, and a certain fearlessness that allows her to ask questions when others are too afraid,” Goldsmith says.

Au Hoy has a clinical fellowship with Stanford Medicine and plans to pursue a career in health care.

Sydni Au Hoy with her faculty mentor Assistant Professor Greg Goldsmith.