NC State Student Cade Brady Honored with Prestigious Goldwater Scholarship

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, established by the United States Congress in 1986, is one of the oldest and most prestigious national undergraduate scholarships in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. 

Its mission is to recognize and honor exceptional academic student leaders, furthering their lifelong commitment to research and scientific advancement. Each school year, the program awards scholarships to students at universities around the country, with NC State’s own Cade Brady, a third-year student studying chemistry, being one of this year’s 441 national awardees.

“I’m just so excited and honored that the hard work I’ve put in has been recognized, and also for what that means in terms of the doors that will be open in the future – to be able to go to grad school and pursue the things that I want,” Brady said. 

Brady explained that, during the 2024 fall semester, he prepared materials for NC State’s internal competition for the scholarship through the University Fellowships Office, answering short answer questions, and, most importantly, preparing a three-page essay detailing his research work. 

Brady works with other students in a lab studying chemical biology, working with molecules and compounds that commonly exist in nature called terpenes. Many of these molecules have medicinal properties, and can be used for medicinal purposes when other materials are added to their structure. 

This process can often be lengthy, complicated and expensive, Brady said, and his research involves finding ways to make it simpler and more cost effective, which he explained in his essay. 

“I got feedback from a ton of different people to make sure my language was accessible without losing the accuracy of my work,” Brady said. 

After being selected as one of NC State’s four finalists, Brady worked with the University Fellowships Office, in particular Director Courtney Hughes, on polishing his materials to submit them to national application. 

This included going over his essay, and parts that needed to be changed based on feedback Brady received. 

“They were amazingly helpful,” Brady said. “The feedback was very thorough and very helpful. I’m a big fan of constructive criticism. I prefer that someone give me as much criticism as possible so that I can grow as much as possible. And then in the following weeks, as I was working on polishing and finishing the application, Courtney was amazing. She was very accessible. Anytime I had a question or I was feeling a little nervous about something, or I just wanted to talk through it, she was always happy to hop on a Zoom meeting or answer a few emails from me.” 

On Friday, March 28, Brady got the news he had been working for: he’d been officially selected as a Goldwater Scholar for the 2025-26 school year. 

Brady said that, when he first found his name on the list of awardees, it took some time for the reality of achieving his goal to sink in. 

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Brady said. “I don’t come from a family that has a lot of college education, let alone graduate school education. There hasn’t been a lot of precedent in my family for people seeking higher education. It’s something that I’ve always really wanted for myself.”

In addition to financial assistance towards tuition and fees, Brady now gets to join a nationwide community of scholars working to better scientific disciplines through research. 

It also validates to me that the work I’m doing has an impact.

Not long after finding out he received the scholarship, Brady joined a Zoom call with other Goldwater awardees throughout the United States. 

“It’s a really amazing feeling,” he said. “I’ve always loved hearing about what other people are doing and all of the cool science that goes on in the world. I’m always really intrigued by the mind-blowing things that we can do with science. I think it’s extra mind blowing to be a part of that community, be among those people as a peer and not just look up to them. It also validates to me that the work I’m doing has an impact in the same way that I think their work has an impact, which has made me more excited about my work.” 

After completing his undergraduate program at NC State, Brady hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical biology. 

Beyond that, he wants to eventually enter the world of academia as a teacher, and make his field of study more accessible and welcoming to future generations of students. 

“There are some identities that I hold that I haven’t always seen in my professors and the faculty around me, especially as a neurodivergent and queer student in STEM. It can be hard to feel like someone who holds those identities can be successful in the field when you don’t see that. So it’s really important to me that I can one day be that representation for other students coming in.” 

“And chemistry is also a really misunderstood and wrongfully judged field. I think people get scared of it and they think they’re not capable and it’s just supposed to be hard. I think everyone is entirely capable of doing chemistry. It’s a new language and there’s a learning curve. But I think it’s a really beautiful subject and I would love to be able to share that and show that energy to incoming students, maybe get some of them excited about something that they may have been fearful of.” 

Students interested in applying for external awards and/or international fellowships should contact the University Fellowships Office.

This post was originally published in DASA.