Twenty-one University of Alabama at Birmingham students were selected to participate in the Honors College’s2025 Presidential Honors Fellowship cohort with mentors and UAB leadership Presidential Honors Fellowship (PHF) program based on their outstanding research proposals.

With a $2,500 stipend, honors students from varied majors and backgrounds engaged in research, creative activity, or community engagement projects throughout the summer, with outstanding UAB faculty across campus serving as mentors to guide them on their progress and results.

In support of the UAB Honors College, the Heersink School of Medicine’s Department of Cell, Developmental & Integrative Biology provided funding and mentors for three fellowship positions. Additionally, Mark Bevensee, Ph.D., associate dean of the UAB Honors College, collaborated with Priscila Sato, Ph.D., associate professor in the Heersink School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiovascular Disease, to obtain funding for a three-year UAB/American Heart Association (AHA) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program. Starting this year, the grant allowed three honors students to learn about cutting-edge science and medicine in the field of cardiovascular disease through full-time summer research and engagement in professional development opportunities.

“I am always amazed at the impressive scholarly projects that students produce every summer that address a range of topics from the sciences to the humanities,” said Shannon L. Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “Our students combine their classroom experience, workshop training, and natural curiosity to pursue their scholarly interests, engage in research or creative activity, and share their outcomes with the UAB community.”

“The fellowship was meaningful to me because it allowed me to make my laboratory research my first priority,” said Jakub Hel, a rising junior majoring in neuroscience and 2025 PHF participant. “This gave me a deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a researcher and made me all the more motivated to pursue a scientific research career. I learned that some of the most important skills to learn for a career in STEM don’t have that much to do with the science itself but rather learning how to read, talk, and think like a scientist.”

PHF students participated in professional development workshops to help with best practices on effective research methods and poster presentations, along with personal growth such as financial literacy and stress management. The eight sessions were led by UAB faculty and staff, which included:

• Good Stress, Bad Stress, and How to Manage Both – Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk, D.M.A.
• Breaking Down Your Project! You're Studying What? – Cristin Gavin, Ph.D.
• Interviewing Skills: Telling Your Story – Damion White
• Study Strategies – Mark Bevensee, Ph.D.
• You Should Absolutely Apply for Nationally Competitive Awards! – Michelle Cook, Ph.D.
• Self-Care Isn't Selfish: It's Neurobiological – Angela Stowe, Ph.D.
• Giving a Proper Poster Presentation – Ian Miranda
• Money Basics for Students – Stephanie Yates, Ph.D.

PHF participant Jakub Hel preparing his research in a labA celebratory event with UAB President Ray Watts commemorated the PHF program and the work of students and their mentors. President Watts shared his medical experience and discussed how our knowledge and understanding of challenging issues continues to evolve through the students’ scholarly efforts. Students also shared the progress of their research and plans to continue their work in the future.

“Congratulations to all our PHF students this summer who completed an enriching experience of scholarly work, professional development workshops, and other engaging activities,” Bevensee said. “The PHF experiential learning experience teaches students the importance of dedicated effort, skills development, reflection, and networking when pursuing an exciting field and preparing for future success.”

As one of the requirements of the PHF program, students presented their results in the UAB Summer Expo in categories such as: Arts and Humanities, Biological and Life Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Physical and Applied Science, Service Learning, Social and Behavioral Science, and Works in Progress.

The 2025 Honors College Presidential Honors Fellowship participants included:

Nusrat Amy
“Understanding the paradox of positive and negative effects of electrical neural stimulation: How topographic organization may play a role”
Mentor: Matthew Nelson, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery

Abhai Anand
“Investigating Chronic Kidney Disease-Induced Cardiovascular Complications Using iPSC-Derived Cardiomyocyte Organoids”
Mentor – Palaniappan Sethu, Ph.D.; School of Engineering and Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Bhavya Chalasani
“Optimization of Compound Targeting RANK Signaling Pathways for Improved Treatment of Breast Cancer Bone Metastases”
Mentor: Xu Feng, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Division of Molecular & Cellular Pathology

Sonoka Deguchi
“Investigating the Role of Pkd2 in Injury-Induced Cyst Formation in a Mouse Model of ADPKD”
Mentor: Bradley Yoder, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology

Afsheen Fatima
“Evaluation and elimination of RT-triggered C1q-dependent neurodegenerative pathology associated with glioma microenvironment”
Mentor: Natalia Filippova, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurology

Jakub Hel
“Investigating the Role of Intracellular Progranulin in Preventing Frontotemporal Dementia Pathogenesis”
Mentor: Andrew Arrant, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurology

Amelia Herron
“Role of phospholipid in regulation of RabGAPs”
Mentor: Zhiyong Liu, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology

Parth Kommidi
“Patient-Derived Glioblastoma Organoid Slices as a Model for Investigating ECM-Driven Invasion and Tumor Microenvironment Remodeling”
Mentor: Andrea Comba, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Division of Neuropathology

Emma Mcgowan
“How Renaissance Anatomical Studies and Alpine Folk Healing Traditions in Italy Have Influence Modern Medical Understanding”
Mentor: Kevin Fontaine, Ph.D.; School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior

Tamanna Patel
“The Book of Wonder”
Mentor: Kerry Madden-Lunsford, M.F.A.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English

Arjun Ram
“The Isolation of Acetylated Triterpene Saponin from Agrostemma gigatho L. for Medicinal Chemistry Studies”
Mentor: Pengfei Wang, Ph.D.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry

Kiersten Ratcliff
“Alabama’s Opioid Crisis: A Data-Driven Model to Inform Policy and Intervention”
Mentor: Tricia Phillips, Ph.D.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics

Brady Robinson
“Electrophysiological characterization of transient receptor potential (TRPA1) channels in X-ray optogenetics”
Mentor: Aurelio Galli, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Surgery

Eric Rohwer
“The Role of Ripasudil induced Rho Kinase Inhibition on Mitophagic Activity Within Cardiomyocyte”
Mentor: Jianhua Zhang, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology

Emma Rosenkoetter
“The Dendritic Cell-Endothelin-1 Interaction in Cardio-Renal Complications of Obesity”
Mentor: Carmen De Miguel, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Division of Nephrology

Trishona Satkuri
“Understanding the role of earlylife stress on post-embryonic neuronal maturation in Caenorhabitis elegans”
Mentor: HaoSheng Sun, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology

Rohma Syed
“The Role of Rab27b in Alpha-Synuclein Pathology and Dopaminergic Cell Survival in a53t α-Synuclein Mice”
Mentor: Talene Yacoubian, M.D., Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurology

Daniel Wang
“Nanoscale Mapping of Rotational Dynamics in Cadherins at Single-Cell Level”
Mentor: Alexa Mattheyses, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology