remarkable students

Tehreem Khan

UAB's dynamic living and learning environment inspires and nurtures achievement, social responsibility and enterprise.

UAB's highly motivated students examine, master and expand traditional knowledge in the classroom, lab, field and communities they serve. They include Rhodes, Marshall, Clinton, Fulbright Goldwater, Gilman and Truman scholars, national champions for Mock Trial, Ethics Bowl, Bioethics Bowl and winners of three consecutive national titles at the largest collegiate financial portfolio competition.

NameYearAchievement
Alpha Epsilon Delta 2022 Michael Ho, a spring 2022 graduate with bachelor's degrees in neuroscience and French, was selected as the one student nationwide to receive the 2022 Virgil L. Tweedie Scholarship, worth $10,000, from Alpha Epsilon Delta, a national health and medical pre-professional honors society.
Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service 2022 Alexandra "Lexie" Woolums, a junior pursing an individually designed degree in Environmental Sciences, was selected as one of 100 recipients of the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service. The scholarship, also known as the Voyager Scholarship, was created by former President Barack Obama and Brian Chesky, Airbnb chief executive officer, to provide meaningful financial aid combined with transformational travel to students passionate about public service. Woolums was selected out of a pool of nearly 1,800 applicants.
Council on Undergraduate Research 2022 Rachael George and Ali McDearmond, along with faculty member Despina Stavrinos, Ph.D., were selected for the 2022-2023 Scholars Transforming Through Research Program. Through this program, the UAB team will have the tools needed to engage in successful collaborative interactions with stakeholders, which include legislators and the public.
White House Commission on Presidential Scholars 2022 James Shi, a freshman student in the UAB Honors College, was one of only 161 students to be named to the 58th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars.
Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship 2022 Nine UAB students — Isabella Montgomery, Danielle Russell, Ivy Eppes, Whitney Chaney, Israel Mason, Nicollette Houston-Turner, Lauren Pate, Kieoynntice Smith and Yesi Villanueva — were selected as recipients of the 2022 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, the largest cohort of recipients from UAB in a single application cycle. The Gilman Scholarship is sponsored by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program aims to make study abroad experiences accessible to a more diverse population of students and gives students the opportunity to gain a better understanding of other cultures, countries, languages and economies — making them better prepared to assume leadership roles in government and the private sector.
American Chemical Society 2022 Wajiha Mekki, an undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences, was awarded a competitive CIBA Specialty Chemicals scholarship.
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival 2022 Amanda Grace Waller, who graduated in April 2022 with a B.A. in theater with a concentration in design and technology, was one of two students nationally to receive a special achievement award for her work on lighting design for the UAB Theatre production "Much Ado About Nothing."
United States Department of Defense 2022 Nicholas Millen and Zachary Newman, both undergraduates in the School of Engineering, received Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarships. The awards provide the students with full tuition for up to five years, in addition to mentorship, summer internships, a stipend and full-time employment after graduation.
Knight-Hennessy Scholar 2022 Shreya Malhotra, who graduated from UAB in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in neuroscience and a master's degree in public health, was named among the fifth cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, the largest fully endowed graduate fellowship in the world.
Fulbright U.S. Student Program 2022 Pranav Kakulamarri, Emily Magda, Simona Shirley, Skylar Summers and Claire Thomas were selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards for 2022. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants to study, teach and conduct research in more than 160 countries.
Federal Highway Administration 2022 Graduate students Grace Albright, Alecia Mercier, Gabriela Sherrod and Austin Svancara were awarded 2021-2022 Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Research fellowships by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration.
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation 2022 Three students — Charlene Mansour, Abhi Kamath and Seth Hubbard — were named 2022 Goldwater Scholars, the most prestigious math and science award for undergraduate students.
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship 2022 Five undergraduate students — Tanner Caton, Lillian Kennedy, Valtena Rosenblum, Lexie Thomas and Bradley Vanderbilt — were selected for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
National Optometric Student Association 2022 Kierra Goins and Daniele Ewert were elected as leaders during the association's 2021 annual convention. Goins was selected as recording secretary and Ewert was selected as treasurer.
Public Relations Student Society of America 2021 Tehreem Khan, co-president of the Public Relations Student Society of America chapter at UAB, received the Diversity and Multicultural Scholarship from the Public Relations Society of America. This is the first time PRSA has awarded the scholarship to a UAB student chapter member.
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship 2021 Eight UAB students — Amy Trinh, Liza Thomas, Jenil Patel, Kelsey Lockhart, Michayla Jeremiah, Nicollette Houston-Turner, Shunn Frazier, and Diego Delaney — were selected for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The eight UAB students selected are the most recipients from a single institution in Alabama.
Black Greek Leadership Consortium 2021 First-year Ph.D. student Shekwonya Samuel, who is pursuing a degree in health behavior, was the first-place graduate winner at the Minority Student Research Symposium, which was created by the Black Greek Leadership Consortium to engage minority students studying health sciences at universities nationwide.
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation 2021 Rose Albert and Karthik Reddy, both members of the UAB Honors College, were named 2021 Goldwater Scholars, joining the group of 32 UAB students to date who have been awarded the scholarship.
Department of State Critical Language Scholarship 2021 Kathryn Hargett and Soumya Khanna were selected for the United States Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship program, which funds an eight to 10-week overseas language and cultural immersion program.
Prevent Blindness Rising Visionary Award 2021 School of Optometry student Shervonne Poleon received the 2021 Prevent Blindness Rising Visionary Award.
Fulbright Student Program 2021 Parker Rose, Garrett Sager and Nitin Gharpure were selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards.
Council on Undergraduate Research 2021 Biology major Ryleigh Fleming was one of 60 college students from across the country selected to participate in the Council on Undergraduate Research’s Posters on the Hill, which amplifies voices of undergraduate researchers and their mentors to legislators on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship 2021 Engineering graduate student Courtney Severino and recent alumni Jasmin Revanna and Retta El Sayed were awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, which provide up to three years of support for graduate education, including a $34,000 annual stipend plus $12,000 per year toward the cost of graduate work.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute 2021 Political science major Bessie M. Gaspar earned an internship with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute for its 2021 summer program. Gaspar, a native of Albertville, Alabama, is the first person from UAB to receive this honor.
National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2021 Collat School of Business honors student Dipal Patel has been accepted to present her research on the demographics of Fortune 500 companies to the 2021 National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
Brooke Owens Fellowship 2021 School of Engineering senior Jordan Fuse has been named one of the 44 Brooke Owens Fellowship recipients worldwide, and the first from UAB. The Brooke Owens Fellowship is a nationally acclaimed nonprofit organization recognizing exceptional undergraduate women and other gender minorities with space and aviation internships, senior mentorship, and a secure professional network.
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship 2020 Keyanna Stokes was selected from among more than 1,500 applicants for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Schwarzman Scholars 2020 College of Arts and Sciences student Zahrah Abdulrauf has been named one of the 154 Schwarzman Scholars worldwide and the first from UAB. Schwarzman Scholars is a fully funded, one-year master’s degree and leadership program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Clinton Global Initiative University 2020 Honors College students Alice Kim and Ryleigh Fleming have won support from the Clinton Global Initiative University COVID-19 Student Action Fund. The students each created projects on mask education, distribution of personal hygiene materials and accessibility to the Centers for Disease Control safety guidelines for marginalized groups — specifically homeless people.
Society for Public Health Education/CDC 2020 College of Arts and Sciences graduate student Grace Albright has received a fellowship in injury prevention with the Society for Public Health Education and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fellowship is designed to support the training of a new generation of public health researchers and practitioners who work in behavioral sciences.
Phi Kappa Phi 2020 Alumna Abigail Franks was awarded an $8,500 fellowship by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Franks is one of 58 recipients nationwide to receive a Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship in 2020.
National Institutes of Health 2020 Graduate student Rylie Hightower was awarded an F99/K00 grant from the National Institutes of Health, becoming the fifth student from UAB to be named a recipient.
NASA Alabama Space Grant Consortium 2020 Physics doctoral students Sumner B. Harris and Seth Iwan received graduate fellowships of $37,000 per year from the NASA Alabama Space Grant Consortium. Physics majors Britta Manifold and Keston Smith were awarded undergraduate scholarships of $1,500 per year.
Fulbright U.S. Student Program 2020 Grace Kennedy, Kenneth Davis, Garrett Sager, John Stephen Hutchinson, Martha Cati Pudner, Riley Yager, Ayla McCay and Kerri Tang were selected for the prestigious program, which provides grants to study, teach and conduct research in more than 160 countries. This is the largest cohort of Fulbright recipients from UAB in a single year.
Udall Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship 2020 Rose Albert became the third UAB Udall Scholarship awardee since 2014. Each scholarship provides up to $7,000 for the scholar’s junior or senior year.
American Association of University Women 2020 Angelina “Angie” Aduke Toluhi, MBBS, MPH, a doctoral student in the School of Public Health, was awarded an American Association of University Women International Fellowship, including $20,000 to help fund her doctoral education at UAB.
Harry S. Truman Scholarship 2020 Whitman “Whit” Miller was awarded the Truman Scholarship, which provides $30,000 toward graduate education and professional development for young people dedicated to public service.
National Science Foundation 2020 Queenisha Crichlow, a first-year graduate student in medical psychology, received the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She will use the fellowship to study the impact of racial discrimination on adolescent health and psychosocial adjustment.
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation 2020 Georgia Haggard and Sarah Nealy were named 2020 Goldwater Scholars, joining a group of 30 UAB students to date who have been awarded the scholarship.
American Advertising Foundation 2020 Hannah Bae was selected to the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Multicultural Student Program
U.S. Department of Transportation 2019 Austin Svancara, Grace Albright and Maria Lechtreck were named 2019-2020 Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Research fellows by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
National Institutes of Health 2019 Macy Stockdill received an 18-month, $75,000 F31 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research for her Ph.D. studies, the first UAB Nursing student to receive the F31 grant from the NIH
Rhodes Trust 2019 Abigail Franks was selected as a finalist for the American Rhodes Scholar Class of 2020
Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine 2019 Emma Goodman was awarded the best student presentation at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine in Madrid, Spain
Forbes 2019 Zahrah Abdulrauf was among a group of young leaders, founders and creators worldwide selected as one of the Forbes Under 30 Scholars for 2019, which allowed her to attend the Under 30 Summit
American Association of University Women 2019 Molly Buckley was chosen to receive a Selected Professions Fellowship to help fund her research into new drug targets for cancer therapy
NCAA 2019 Deanna Kuzmanic was named a Top 30 finalist for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
National Science Foundation 2019 Maggie Collier was selected for two national STEM fellowships: she is a National Science Foundation fellow and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellow
Bioethics National Championship 2019 UAB's undergraduate Bioethics Bowl team — Kaitlin Burge, Hana Habchi, Amy Jasani, Sunya Reddy and Tanvee Sinha — claimed the 2019 National Championship title at the Bioethics National Championship
Fulbright Student Program, German Academic Exchange Service Graduate Research Fellowship 2019 Gunnar Eastep received a Fulbright United States Student Program award and a German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD, Graduate Research Fellowship to Germany
Alabama Music Teachers Association 2019 Freshman Dina Kasman won the lower college division and junior Jacob Skiles won the upper college division at the Alabama State Music Teachers National Association state collegiate audition
University Innovation Fellows 2019 Jason Zhang, Marrielle Santiago, Annisha Borah and Zahrah Abdulrauf, all students in the UAB Honors College, were among 358 students from 16 countries selected as University Innovation Fellows by Stanford University's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
American Student Dental Society 2019 Kai Huang, a third-year dental student, was elected vice president of the American Student Dental Association’s House of Delegates
Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship 2019 Sandra Cutts, a doctoral candidate in the School of Engineering, has been selected as one of 60 students to be a 2019 John A. Knauss Marine Policy fellow