Ameen Barghi received the prestigious Rhodes Scholar award in November. He is one of three UAB students to receive the award, following Neel Varshney in 2000 and Josh Carpenter in 2012. Barghi previously received the Goldwater scholarship as a sophomore. As a Rhodes Scholar, Barghi is one of 32 U.S. students who will receive an all-expenses paid graduate education at the University of Oxford.

Barghi, 22, began work at UAB as a hospital volunteer in 10th grade, later joining the lab of Edward Taub, Ph.D., renowned behavioral neuroscientist in the Department of Psychology. He is majoring in neuroscience and has an individually designed major in translational research.

Barghi has been admitted to UAB’s Early Medical School Acceptance Program, with promised admission to the UAB School of Medicine after undergraduate work. He is enrolled in the Science and Technology Honors program within the Honors College, as well as the Business Honors program at the Collat School of Business.

Barghi attributes his intellectual success to Amanda Bittinger, his Oak Mountain High School calculus teacher and math team coach. “She taught us that, even if you get an answer, you still need to know why. I still use that framework in everything I do,” Barghi says.

Barghi will pursue a Doctor of Philosophy degree in clinical neuroscience at Oxford in October.