Three OSU students win prestigious Udall Scholarship
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Media Contact: Sydney Trainor | OSU Brand Management | 405-744-9782 | sydney.trainor@okstate.edu
Three Oklahoma State University students have been named 2026 Udall Scholars.
Cody Moss, Katelyn Powell and Atalie Sherman were named OSU’s 22nd, 23rd and 24th award recipients. This is the seventh consecutive year that at least one OSU student has been recognized by the Udall Foundation in the Native Healthcare or Tribal Policy Categories.
This highly competitive national scholarship honors the legacies of Morris and Stewart Udall, whose careers significantly impacted American Indian self-governance, healthcare, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. This year, 65 students were selected out of 383 applicants.
Forty-seven Scholars intend to pursue careers related to the environment, 10 Native American or Alaska Native Scholars intend to pursue careers related to Tribal public policy, and eight Native American or Alaska Native Scholars intend to pursue careers related to Native health care.
Each scholarship provides up to $7,000 for eligible academic expenses for the scholar’s junior or senior year of academic study.
“For three OSU students to be named Udall Scholars in the same year is a prestigious accomplishment, both for the students and for the faculty, programs and university communities that support them,” said Jessica Sullins, Scholar Development and Undergraduate Research director. “Cody, Katelyn and Atalie have demonstrated high levels of academic achievement, engaged in leadership and service activities, and hold significant potential for success beyond OSU. We are thrilled to see their efforts recognized at the national level.”
Moss, a Stillwater, Oklahoma, student is a nutritional sciences sophomore with a pre-med concentration.
As a former Freshman Research Scholar and current Niblack Research Scholar, Moss engages in translational biomedical research. He hopes to apply his experiences to a future working in a tribal clinic or conducting research focused on addressing chronic disease disparities in Native communities through culturally informed medicine, nutrition-based prevention and increased Native representation in healthcare.
“I was very excited when I found out I won this scholarship, and now I just need to make the most of the award and prepare the most for my future career. Serving Native communities is a central goal of my career, and the Udall Scholarship will help support that work,” said Moss, a member of the Cherokee Nation and is also Muscogee and Kiowa “I’m hoping through this experience I get to network with communities, figure out what their needs are, and then start brainstorming what would need to happen — especially with nutrition, there's a lot of innovation that can happen there, with some of the chronic diseases that we see that are especially prevalent in native populations — to solve those issues.”
Powell is a member of the Shawnee and Delaware tribes from Claremore, Oklahoma. As a history junior, she is studying her tribes’ histories and the importance of maintaining tribal sovereignty for the preservation and protection of languages, cultures and spiritual practices.
She plans to pursue a master's degree in public history followed by a Ph.D. in Native American History.
“I'd like to work in cultural preservation for one of my tribes, and then kind of work as an intermediary between different institutions with cultural preservation, specifically, museums,” Powell said.
Powell learned about the Udall opportunity through a campus email. With the encouragement of her advisor, she pursued the opportunity to strengthen her future.
“Seeing how proud my family is about the Shawnee and Delaware made me proud to be Shawnee Delaware,” Powell said.
As a Udall Scholar, these students will travel to Tucson, Arizona, in August to meet other current and past scholars.
“I think it’ll be really cool to see where they are, and I think that will help me identify a clearer path toward my future,” Powell said.
Sherman is a psychology and biology sophomore from Owasso, Oklahoma.
Coming from the small Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, with only a few thousand registered members, Sherman said opportunities on a national stage feel deeply connected to her community and inspiring for others who may not often see people from similar backgrounds represented in those spaces.
“I've always wanted to pursue higher education because, as a Native American individual, we don't have many people who pursue higher education because the opportunities aren't available, so any time I see an opportunity I'm jumping,” Sherman said.
Sherman has been admitted to the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. There she will pursue the Tribal Medicine Pathway and graduate with both a D.O. and MPH. Her goal is to practice family medicine at a tribally affiliated clinic serving patients in rural Oklahoma.
She is looking forward to how the Udall Scholar program helps her prepare for the future and make meaningful connections.
“I think mentorship is so huge, getting to learn from other people who are in my category of Native Healthcare,” Sherman said. “I think is so cool. And I’m absolutely privileged to be part of this amazing cohort of individuals.”