Undergraduate research, scholarship and creativity in a wide range of disciplines all were on full display last Friday at the fourth annual UAB Expo. The Campus Recreation Center hosted some 164 scientific poster presentations, podium presentations, art displays and films. Congratulations to all of these undergrads on their exceptional work for this, one of our most engaging and informative springtime traditions.

Another springtime exposition of sorts has been going on for a number of weeks now. As I mentioned in a recent post and have been tweeting about at @UABPrez, this is an exciting time of year when many prestigious scholarships and awards are announced. As always, a host of UAB students have garnered national and international honors, showcasing their talents on the local and global stage.  Here is a compilation of some of the awards won this spring:

• Goldwater Scholarship (Mallick Hossain, chemistry/math/philosophy) and three honorable mentions (Timothy Fernandez, chemistry; Charlotte Kent, biomedical engineering; and Helen Lin, molecular biology).
• Truman Scholarship (Kimberly Everett, economics), UAB’s eighth, and one of 50 nationally this year.
• Fulbright Scholarship to teach in India (Krish Varma, economics/Spanish), UAB’s tenth Fulbright in five years.
• DAAD-RISE Internship (Joseph Olson, physics/math)—UAB’s fourth in five years—to do physics research in Germany over the summer.
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security STEM Scholarship (Aaron Lamplugh, mechanical engineering), one of 30 nationally.
• United Negro College Fund/Merck Science Research Scholarships (Lakeshia Hyndman and Stacy Ejem, both biology majors).
• Alpha Lambda Delta Fellowship (Krishna Bhatt, international studies/psychology).
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (Jessica Winek, cell biology) and three honorable mentions (Matthew Schultz, biophysics; Jacob Nelson, mechanical engineering; and Ruth McDowell, marine biology).
• John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Andrew Coleman, PhD candidate in biology), one of ten nationally.
• Ford Foundation/National Research Council Fellowship (Christophe Jackson, PhD candidate in biology), for his interdisciplinary research in performance arts medicine.
• Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest & largest all discipline honor society, inducted 80 UAB students and faculty.
• Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll lists151 Blazer student-athletes this academic year, marking the most in UAB history.

This spring has also seen UAB students once again placing highly in national competitions, such as:

• Our Bioethics Bowl team won the national title at the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference  held at Duke University. You’ll remember that our Ethics Bowl team won the national championship last year.
• The UAB Green and Gold Fund, the School of Business’ student-managed investment portfolio, won the alternatives portfolio category at the R.I.S.E (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) Conference competition held in Dayton, Ohio.
• Music student Kseniia Polstiankina  won third place in a national piano competition sponsored by Steinway and Sons.
• Engineering students, using vehicles they designed and built from scratch, placed third out of some 60 teams at the international Baja competition, which UAB hosted this year.

So, we have another very impressive roster of springtime honors and achievements in 2011. I want to congratulate all these students—and the faculty who are mentoring and inspiring them—on the well-deserved national and international recognition they have earned for themselves and for UAB.