A Logan native and professor of physics at Utah State University, Dr. Boyd Edwards has won numerous teaching awards, has published 70 peer-reviewed papers, and has received $3 million in research funding.  As a musician, he plays violin in the American Festival Orchestra, the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Music Theatre West, the Northern Utah Symphony Orchestra, and the Cache Symphony Orchestra, whose board of directors he chairs. From 2010-2015, he served as dean and executive director of the USU Uintah Basin campus, where he founded the Uintah Basin Orchestra and Chorus. From 1986-2010, he taught physics at West Virginia University, where he played in the WVU Symphony and in a Pittsburgh Ballet performance of the Nutcracker. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from USU and a 1985 PhD in applied physics from Stanford University, where he served as co-concertmaster of the Stanford Summer Symphony.  He credits his love of music to his parents, Ann and Farrell Edwards, and his first violin teacher, Barbara Miller. As a student at USU, he served as concertmaster of the USU Symphony Orchestra, where he met his bride, Nadine Watkins, a French horn player. Together they have 7 children and 17 grandchildren. When he’s not preparing physics lectures or practicing, he enjoys astrophotography, mountain biking, and playing with his grandchildren.

Rachel Wheeler taught Orchestra, Folk Fiddle, Guitar and General Music at Roosevelt Junior High School in Roosevelt Utah for 16 years, 2000-2016. She now teaches orchestra at Logan High School (2017-2024).  Currently, she is in her 25^th year of teaching, conducts the Cache Youth Orchestras and performs regularly in various orchestras.  Rachel loves teaching music and has a passion for working with students and sharing that love of music.  She is currently serving as the Orchestra VP on the UMEA Board.

In 2008 the Utah ASTA chapter named her the “Secondary Music Teacher of the Year.”  In 2009 she was awarded “Superior Accomplishment” from the UMEA and given the Utah Governors award for “Leadership in the Arts.”  In 2015, Wheeler was awarded the “Sorensen Legacy Award for Excellence in Arts Education.”  She has a bachelor's degree in Music Education from Utah State University and a masters degree in Music Education from BYU.

She’s married to Greg Wheeler, the math expert, has four children and one new grand baby as of October.