Honors Grad Profiles

Proudest Moment: Strangely enough, getting a 4.0 in a computer science class that I took to fill a general education requirement only because absolutely no other STEM classes worked with my schedule. I was terrified the entire quarter because it's so completely out of my comfort zone, but it all worked out!

Thesis: READING PREGNANCY AS LIMINALITY IN MODERNIST BRITISH FICTION

My Website tamarleveson@gmail.com

I was born and raised in Silicon Valley, and while the four years I've spent at UW have been a bit rainy, I wouldn't change it for anything. In addition to my studies, I have served for three years as a committee leader for UW Hillel, hosted a weekly radio show on Rainy Dawg with my friend Mary every week since winter quarter of first-year year, and interned at a local design magazine called GRAY. I hope to continue my studies in English literature in a master's program in the UK in the near future.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment is when I got into the Foster School of Business with one single try! I know there are so many talented people out there so it felt even more special knowing how strong my competitors are. I really appreciate the opportunity which introduced me to the Foster community and taught me so much throughout the years =)

Thesis: "How Does the COVID-19 Affect the Market of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)?" / "Emergence of Self-Indexing in the ETF Market"

I am so incredibly humbled and honored to be graduating as an honor student in the finance major. Throughout my years at the UW, I am so grateful to work with so many amazing researchers, scholars, professors and collegues. Being alongside so many insanely talented people has really taught me to never stop challenging yourself while to always remain humble because there's simply so much to learn from everyone out there.

Academically and career-wise, I mainly focus my studies around financial asset management and pricings. I did two of my research topics alongside two proficient professors and experienced researches surrounding topics on the Exchange-Traded-Funds markets. My passion in finance is to utilize the knowledge as an efficient tool to help companies make more well-rounded decisions and help consumers make wiser choices. I aim to always analyze problems in a multi-faceted fashion therefore I look forward to working with so many different people with different perspectives after graduation.

I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate everyone who has been in my life so far. Special thanks to Professor Zeng and Professor Song for aiding and guiding me through my research. Thank you to my great parents who supported me and gave me the uttermost understanding throughout my four years in college.

Proudest Moment: I became president of LUX: Film Production Club here on campus right before COVID, so although it was an unexpected year to lead the organization, I'm proud of our community and the adaptations we've made during this difficult year.

My Website

Hi, I'm Rachel! I graduated with a degree in Sociology and two minors in Informatics and Music. I'm interested in technology's impact on society, and wrote my honors thesis about the body positivity movement on social media. I'm also a freelance video editor and will be attending USC for a Master's degree in Journalism next year.

Proudest Moment: Conducting research on a topic I was so passionate about!

Thesis: Photovoice: Illuminating the Impacts of Inclusive Education Services in United States Public Schools

My Website daniellebenedict7@gmail.com

Dani is graduating from the University of Washington with honors and a BA in Social Welfare. Throughout her journey through the School of Social Work Honors Program, she has used the opportunity to critically reflect on the current state of inclusion and special education services in our public schools using a Community-Based Participatory Approach to allow students with disabilities to advocate and be the primary voices for special education reform. While at UW Dani has filled the roles of Vice President for the Mortar Board Tolo Chapter National College Honor Society, Community Service Co-Chair for the Organization of Student Social Workers, acted as a First-Year Interest Group (FIG) Leader, Dawg Daze Leader, and former UW Dream Project mentor and High School Lead. In her future Dani will be continuing her academic career by pursuing a Masters in Social Work with a concentration in Children, Youth, and Families. In her future Dani looks forward to supporting people with disabilities in attaining inclusion through meaningful employment in the community and having equitable access to education.

Proudest Moment: Organizing the statistics directed reading program

Thesis: Identification and Estimation of Direct Causal Effects

Hi I'm Emily and I love statistics! During my time at UW, I have worked as a tutor in the statistics study center, advocated for women in STEM, and was chosen as one of the Husky 100. My experiences in WAMM, as a research fellow at NOAA, and more inspired me to co-found the statistics directed reading program with the aim of getting students from all backgrounds involved in statistics. I am excited and grateful to begin the next chapter in my story as I pursue a PhD in Statistics at UC Berkeley.

Proudest Moment: Actually graduating

Thesis: Engaging transfer voices An analysis of communication and information exchange between transfer students and university program

davigator@comcast.net

David is a transfer student from Seattle Central Community College. He was a reading tutor for the Washington Reading Corps at Solid Ground and a Middle School English Teaching Instructor in Foshan, China before enrolling at UW in January 2014. At UW, he was involved with various activities including as a Resident Adviser, Husky Leadership Initiative peer advisor, Unite UW facilitator, Dream Project mentor, First-Year Programs transfer ambassador, Office of Minorities and Diversity Student Advisory Board member, and a research fellow for the Center of Communication, Difference, and Equity (CCDE). This summer, he will be participating in a Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) National Undergraduate Fellowship Program internship at the University of Missouri, before becoming Unite UW Early Fall Start Program Leader. He hopes to continue advocating and supporting students who transfer and identity as underrepresented as he eventually pursues a Ph.D. in education.

Proudest Moment: Being selected as a Husky 100 has been one of my proudest moments at UW.

ChiaraRDesantis@gmail.com

The University of Washington’s welcoming and open nature propelled me to embrace all parts of myself, especially my multiracial identity and hair loss disease, Alopecia Areata. Throughout my four years, I learned that there is power in looking different and want to use my platform to pay it forward. I chose to pursue a degree in Public Health-Global Health so I can use my own experiences within the healthcare system to bridge inequities and make it more inclusive and accessible for all.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment would be when I was given the opportunity to present my research and findings to my peers at the Mary Gates Undergraduate Research Symposium. Not only was it great to be able to share my work with others, but it was amazing to hear about all the other incredible work my peers have been doing.

Thesis: Using Resting-State Functional Connectivity to Detect Uncomplicated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in U.S. Military Populations

I'd like to thank UW, Dr. Tara Madhyastha, Dr. Christine Mac Donal, Dr. Chantel Prat, and many others for everything they have done to help me along my journey here at the university. I look forward to applying everything I've learned in psychology, statistics, and computer science in industry.

Proudest Moment: Spending my summer taking an intensive Arabic course

Thesis: Reducing Amyloid-Beta Aggregation in Caenorhabditis elegans: A role for Retrograde Response Signaling and bZIP transcription Factors

I grew up on Vashon Island, WA, which sits in the Puget Sound. While at UW, I was able to spend three years conducting undergraduate research on mitochondrial retrograde signaling and Alzheimer's disease. I also had the opportunity to learn a lot about toxicology & public heath while working as an assistant for the Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, and come across new biological methods as an research intern at DotQuant. I've enjoyed getting my degree in biochemistry because it has allowed me to interact with many interesting sub-fields of biology -- from protein design to drug metabolism! I'm excited to spend my summer continuing my internship before (hopefully) exploring abroad and applying to graduate programs.

Outside of class, I love to spend time with family and friends, tend to my plants, go birding, and try new desserts on the Ave!

Proudest Moment: Finishing my degree! Graduating :)

Thesis: Covid-19 Pandemic Effects on UW Nursing Students

-I am excited to start my next journey in nursing by attending Johns Hopkins University and their Family Nurse Practitioner program
-I was happy to spend time as BSN curriculum chair for my cohort and advocating for my cohort by facilitating conversations with faculty and professors
-I enjoyed being a part of many clubs such as SON dawgs Husky Nurse Camp and Future Nurses club. Both programs allowed me to see the potential in many students as future Husky nurses.

Proudest Moment: My Capstone in both degree programs! Creating ElectionGuard and writing our report for Bruce McConnell

My Website kderash0@uw.edu

I love having been able to serve my campus and help out the clubs I was a part of. I sought to gain knowledge to prepare for the growing challenge of technology and security in government and I'd like to say I succeeded!

Proudest Moment: I studied abroad in Peru in Summer 2019 with a really great group of people. We worked hard on our research projects in the Amazon rainforest and had a lot of fun doing it. I'll never forget that experience and the community I got to be a part of.

I took a lot of interesting classes and did a lot of interesting research. I was involved in leadership, several RSOs, and I studied abroad. I'm particularly interested in ecology, ethics, and the intersection between them.

Proudest Moment: Being a Student Producer of the Animation Capstone

My Website

I decided to pursue an art degree at UW in order to have a creative-based career. Currently, I want to create concept art for video games, and I believe that having a solid fine arts background was the first step to accomplish that. I think my time at UW has allowed me to grow both academically and as a person. I have a much better balance between working hard and spending time with friends and family. Outside of school, I enjoy baking, playing games, and visiting new places. I'm excited to see what surprises the future has in store for me.

Proudest Moment: Presenting research at the 21st UW Undergraduate Symposium with my lab partner, Hannah.

I entered the University of Washington knowing that I wanted to study Philosophy. At the time, I was unsure of how I could use Philosophy to impact the world beyond academia, but I was driven by my curiosity to study it nonetheless. I wanted to understand the world and to me, studying Philosophy was the best way to do this. Through my classes, I was able to engage in discussions concerning identity, quality of life, and what it means to be an epistemic agent in the world. I was given the opportunity to connect these discussions outside the college classroom by working with the Philosophy for Children Center, which focuses on empowering k-12 students through providing them the space to explore their own ideas. By working with k-12 students, I found that the students were asking the same questions, trying to understand the world similarly as me. I also found that many students were unable to fully engage with these questions because of overarching issues. Being a first-generation student myself, I understood the difficulties of focusing on school when other issues are prevalent. It made me passionate to learn about and address these issues through classes and research. I began dedicating myself to learning about ways to address inequities in education, focusing primarily on accessibility issues. As I leave UW, I hope to continue to learn and implement ways to make education accessible to all because a good education leads to more opportunities to live the life one wants, which in many cases increases the quality.

Proudest Moment: My experience as a Sociology Honors student and working closely with my mentor Professor Edgar Kiser and Professor Sarah Quinn, the director of Sociology honors program, surely prepared me for the rigors of the Ph.D. program.

Thesis: Making and Transcending Boundaries: The Effect of Rituals on Interethnic Relations

raminj@uw.edu

I am Azerbaijani, a divided nation by geopolitical borders and denied contact during the Soviet era. As a member of an ethnic minority in Iran, I have experienced multiple forms of inequality and oppression. While banning our mother language, the state deemed the Persian language and culture alone as authentically Iranian. I witnessed my relatives in Iran forced to emigrate from Azerbaijani populated provinces to find construction work in Persian areas. I eventually learned that Iran’s highest rate of emigration occurs in Azerbaijani-populated provinces. These and other social and institutionalized injustices led me to join the Azerbaijani anti-racist movement in order to advocate Azerbaijani cultural rights and oppose discriminatory economic and environmental policies of the state.
My personal history, though unique in many respects, unfolded in the context of social, economic, and political conditions that exist in many societies. I come from an ethnic minority in Iran humiliated for their accent when speaking Persian and subjected to multiple forms of discrimination designed to silence them. It has meant everything to me to pursue my studies in this country, unfettered by discrimination and persecution for my ideas or my refugee status. Coming to the US allows me to pursue an academic career, but I also see it as an opportunity to enrich our understanding of and give voice to various minority groups (e.g., ethnic, gender, racial) that have also been silenced. Motivated by the goal of achieving a just and inclusive society, I studied in the Department of Sociology.
Within two months of arriving in the United States, I attended Green River College and learned especially from my mentors Professor Carlos Adams and Professor Brad Johnson. My experience as a Sociology Honors student and working closely with my mentor Professor Edgar Kiser and Professor Sarah Quinn, the director of Sociology honors program, surely prepared me for the rigors of the Ph.D. program. This fall, I am coming back to UW as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology. I am deeply indebted to my mentors in both schools, my family, and my friends for their support along the way.

Proudest Moment: When I received a 4.0 in an extremely mathematically challenging course on financial derivatives, even with my strong aversion to math.

I am passionate about cooking, reading, fitness, and music (both playing and listening to). I also love watching movies and am a total film snob.

Some things I've accomplished are: Attaining the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts, going on a month long solo backpacking trip to Mexico, and graduating (hopefully) from the UW with a business degree.

Proudest Moment: Finishing the Russian language series

Thesis: Information Operations in Action: Russian Trolls and Black Lives Matter on Twitter

Coming from Texas, I had no idea what to expect from both UW and Seattle, but after four years I have found my academic passions and a great community! I learned Russian, studied abroad in Moldova and Greenland, and discovered my passion for both cybersecurity and climate change. Developing and writing my honors thesis on disinformation was perhaps one of the most intellectually challenging things I did during my time at UW, but it is something I'm incredibly proud of completing. During my time at UW, I researched for the UNFPA and Microsoft, worked as a writing tutor at the POL S/JSIS/LSJ writing center, and served as a mentor to international students. Even though studying at UW was often challenging, I am sad to be leaving the campus and incredibly glad I chose to make Seattle my home.

Proudest Moment: When I presented at the undergraduate research symposium. That was the moment where I really felt like all the work I was doing for my thesis had really come together. I also had the opportunity to present in front of my friends and really feel proud of the work I had done.

Thesis: Under-representations of Climate Change in the Syrian Civil War

My Website anirudhruw@gmail.com

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, I come from a family of Huskies. My sister graduated from the UW a few years before me and I already knew way before college applications had even started that I wanted to be a Husky too. I love spending time at the IMA, hanging out with friends at the HUB, and getting involved with RSOs like the Hiking Club or Indian Student Association. I am finishing up my degree in Geography, and I'm also studying design on the side. These past 4 years have been transformational and I can't wait for what the future has in store!

Proudest Moment: Becoming a FIG Leader

My interests fall into two main categories, sports and the arts. I love basketball, volleyball, and swimming. Basketball is my favourite though. I used to spend 8 hours a week playing, until I got injured. I'm working my way back to 100%! In the meantime, I'm watching lots of NBA and playing fantasy basketball. Regarding creative arts, I spent a huge chunk of my time doing music (piano, guitar, ukulele, singing, producing), film (travel film, vlogs, shorts), or just enjoying arts that other people created MOVIESSS AND NETFLIX!

Proudest Moment: Publishing research on a microscale Tuberculosis model after working on it for three years!

Thesis: A Modular Microscale Granuloma Model for Immune-Microenvironment Signaling Studies In Vitro

GOWERMAIA@GMAIL.COM

During my time at UW, I have enjoyed working in the Theberge Lab in the Department of Chemistry and studying Swedish with the Department of Scandinavian Studies. I cherish the time spent learning new skills and building community within these groups and will miss them dearly!

I am looking forward to continuing my education in Microbiology at Lund University in Sweden and beginning an exciting new chapter in my life!

Proudest Moment: Earning a Mary Gates Scholarship for my research!

Thesis: A New Metric for Evaluating Pro Sports Expansion Franchises

maxkahn@comcast.net

I moved out of the Chicagoland area to come to Seattle without a specific study area in mind. I dabbled in computer science, business, and philosophy at UW before deciding on Geography! I'm very thankful that the Geography Department was able to support my interest in sports and pursue sports research, culminating in a year-long thesis project studying the themes of relocation and expansion in professional sports. I like to think that my earlier classes in computer science and business helped provide a basis for my research project that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, so in a sense, I'm grateful that I came to UW as an undecided student and wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Seattle, thanks for being the best home I could have asked for over the last four years, and GO DAWGS!

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest moments at UW was probably when I got published in two different UW publications: The UW Journal of Anthropology and Voyage Magazine.

Thesis: The Handcraft Movement: Analyzing of the Subjectivity of Value

My Website

Hi! My name is Olivia and I am graduating UW with college and interdisciplinary honors. Being from out of state, finding a fit in Washington was challenging at first but UW gave me so many opportunities to better discover myself and what I love to do. My time at UW has pushed me as a writer, connected me with individuals who have inspired my artistic pursuits, and has given me a family away from home. Looking into the future, I am excited for all the opportunities ahead of me and I know the skills I have learned during my past 4 years here will set me up for success.

Proudest Moment: That day I was called on in class and had the right answer (at least I think that happend at least once)

If I wasn't a nurse I would probably bake cakes. Since baking cakes = eating cakes, I'm glad I chose the healthier route of nursing. The path to my BSN was not quick. It took about 10 years, taking 1 nursing pre-req at a time while developing my career in healthcare leadership. While the journey took longer than expected I'm glad I have context and direction in who I want to be as a nurse. I believe nurses are uniquely equipped to change healthcare for the better and I want to be a part of that. I didn't expect nursing school to change me but it has. I have been surrounded by compassionate and inspiring faculty, patients, and colleagues. They've made me a great nurse and an even better human. I am grateful to walk away changed.

Proudest Moment: One of the proudest moments for me at UW were those time when my teams won several very competitive business case competitions.

Thesis: ASC-606 Readiness and SAB 74 Disclosure Quality

kellylc31@icloud.com

I am an international student from China. I have had a challenging but wonderful 4-year experience here at UW Foster School of Business.

Foster has helped shape and define who I want to be in the future, and will continue to remind me of who I used to be, what I learned from my past and how I can take the lessons learned with me going forward.

As I am graduating, I am on the way to start my career at Deloitte Consulting NYC office. I hope Huskies can keep connected no matter where we go. Go purple, be gold!

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW was finishing my 30-minute documentary that shared the voices and stories of the indigenous people on the Olympic Coast.

Thesis: Ocean Acidification and Native Tribes: Sharing Stories from the Olympic Coast

Throughout my time at UW, I've had so many great experiences. As a two-year member of the SURE-EH (Student Undergraduate Research Experience in Environmental Health) program, I have completed two year-long independent research projects under the guidance of my faculty mentor Dr. Tania Busch Isaksen. Last year, my project focused on improving food waste sorting and recycling at Kirkland Middle School in Washington. During this project, I had the opportunity to first design my own methodology to conduct a waste audit at the school and then was able to instruct and work alongside students to help complete the audit. After analyzing the data with the specific goal of identifying barriers to proper food waste disposal, I created a poster to be displayed in the school’s hallway and collaborated with the school's Green Team to guide future targeted recycling improvement efforts. Continuing with the topic of food waste but at a larger scale, my project with SURE-EH this year involved improving the food waste management system of local food trucks. The City of Bellevue, a community with a robust food truck culture, was looking to revise its current food truck permitting process and was interested in incorporating a sustainable waste management component. In collaboration with two graduate students, I performed a policy analysis to identify the best practices of successful existing sustainable food truck operations around the country. From there, my team and I created qualitative interview questions and surveys and conducted interviews with key stakeholders in Bellevue such as food truck operators, waste management contractors, food donation organizations, and customers. My findings from this research will then be used to inform key recommendations to the City of Bellevue in launching their new sustainable food truck permitting program. Outside of SURE-EH, I also performed research as part of my senior capstone project. I interned with Washington Sea Grant on a project that involved partnering with indigenous coastal communities to examine how ocean acidification is affecting key marine resources as well as overall tribal well-being on the Olympic Coast of Washington. Within the project, my primary role involved conducting and recording in-person interviews with key partners involved in the project such as scientists, oceanographers and tribal leaders which I then edited into a short documentary highlighting the voice of native tribes and the effect these climate-related ocean changes have on their well-being. From there, I then conducted my own research on the vulnerabilities of Olympic Coast’s native peoples to ocean acidification from a food security, economic, and cultural perspective. Besides research, I'm is also currently working with King County DNRP Solid Waste Division as a Recycling and Environmental Services intern. For the past year, I have collaborated and assisted on a multitude of different projects ranging from the Green Schools program, transfer station recycling, the Threadcycle campaign, and many more. In this position, I have completed tasks such as updating public webpages with climate change information, designing infographics and displays to be distributed to schools, analyzing landfill waste tonnage data for potential recycling opportunities, and produced a video demonstrating ways to reduce food waste. Lastly, I've been a member and officer with UW's LUX Film Production club for the past three years. With this club, I've had the fun experience of working with other student filmmakers to write, create, and edit short films each quarter. As one of the club's many screenwriters, I'm so grateful to have had the chance to write dozens of screenplays and improve my writing ability. UW and the range of experiences it has to offer has allowed me to explore my interests and have worthwhile experiences that have lead me to be both prepared and excited for my journey after graduation.

Proudest Moment: Working together with 4 fellow Chemical Engineering undergraduates and 1 MBA student to win the Social Impact Prize at the 2019 Dempsey Startup Competition

My experience as a Husky is defined by so much more than just working through challenging engineering problems. It was a time where I really got to explore my true passion, potential and purpose.

In my time here, I have been fortunate to have my family, mentors and friends support me in all of my personal and academic endeavors. For all that I have been able to achieve during my time here, I owe it all to them.

Proudest Moment: Making the Dean's List for nearly 4 years straight

I am a transfer student that has had nothing but a good experience at UW. Over my three year here, I have been blessed to have made many educational and personal relationships that I will cherish forever. Getting to watch the Dawgs play a Rose Bowl in Pasadena is something I will never forget. GO DAWGS

Proudest Moment: Starting UW Mutual Aid to support BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, undocumented, and/or first-generation UW students with Students of Color for Public Health. As of June 2021, the community build around our mutual aid program has raised over 60k for over 125 students!

mndamele@gmail.com

Hello, my name is Makayla, and I am graduating with my B.A. in Public Health-Global Health with a minor in Human Rights. I have lived in Washington my whole life but am proud to be the daughter of my mom who is from Chamula, Mexico and my dad who is from Balai, Ghana.

During my time at UW, I have had the honor of being both and intern and fellow with ROOTS Young Adult Shelter where I created educational trainings for volunteers on root causes of homelessness, anti-oppression, food safety, conflict response, and best practices and policies at ROOTS. This experience was supported by the CELE center where I have been able to grow a community. I have also been able to serve on the School of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Council for Students where my UW community only grew. My coursework has been such an incredible opportunity to work with others, reflect on my positionality, and advocate for others with intersectional, anti-racist, and abolitionist praxis. I created a virtual board game simulating how structural barriers, identities, and policy all interact and affect access to healthcare and wellbeing as one of my ad-hoc projects which I am hoping to continue developing alongside my partner. Community has been at the center of all my work and will be what drives all my work to come. I plan to pursue an MPH in the near future after I gain more experience working directly with my communities.

Proudest Moment: Making the Dean's List with a 3.8 GPA while taking 19 credits.

Thesis: Black Student-Athletes' Experience at Predominantly White Institutes

I am a former full-scholarship Tight End for the UW football team. I struggled in school for my first 2.5 years of college because I didn't care about school and never believed I could succeed. I made a switch in my approach to school late in my sophomore year, in the midst of battling through multiple injuries.

I turned my entire academic experience around starting from ground zero. I didn't know how to study or what studying really looked like. After turning my grades around from 2.6s to now 3.7s+, I am now driven to set the example for other Black student-athletes and people of color in general. I will continue to break barriers that were set in front of Black students, in particular, Black student-athletes, of what we can and can't do.

My accomplishments are as follows:

1. Securing an internship with Amazon Web Services as a Product Marketing Intern

2. Student Athlete Leadership Forum, PAC 12 Representative:
Selected as one of two student athletes conference wide to represent the PAC 12 in Orlando, Florida

3. Sigma Leadership Conference, Motivational Keynote Speaker:
Spoke to a group of minorities, 9th-12th grade, about what it takes to be successful and excel not only in college but as a future business leader

4. Student Athlete Leadership Team, UW Athletics Representative:
Selected to represent UW athletics regarding athlete legislation at NCAA conference

5. UW Board of Regents Representative
Selected to represent all UW student-athletes to talk about the student-athlete experience in both academics and sports

6. Husky Leadership Academy - Executive Leadership Certificate recipient:
One-year designed to challenge UW student-athletes through coursework in leadership competencies and experiences. Provides participants with tools to effectively lead themselves and others, navigate challenging environments, and empower others to lead.

7. Washington Student Athlete Advisory Committee (WSAAC):
Gave input on NCAA legislation centered on Division I athletics; serves as the voice of the student-athlete at the University of Washington on how to improve our community

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW was submitting my two theses!

Thesis: "Engineering Reversibility within a Novel Hepatitis C Virus NS3a-Based Chemically-Inducible Dimerization System" (Biochemistry); "Sampling from Conditional Distributions Using Groebner Basis Theory" (Mathematics)

I participated chemical biology research with the Maly lab, and completed summer research fellowships at the University of Virginia and the University of California, Los Angeles. Additionally, I spent three years working as a peer tutor at the Instructional Center. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies, exploring the city and listening to live music. I'm excited to be continuing my studies as a PhD candidate at Harvard University.

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest moments is the time I spent abroad where I really grew as an individual during a challenging time.

Thesis: “I get out and start walking”: Refusal of the Asian American Family Unit by Exploring Debt, Migrancy, and Queer Reproduction in Ling Ma’s Severance

Originally from Boulder, Colorado, I've lived in 5 different cities during my college experience. Movement has characterized my understanding of the world and meeting new people and learning new things is something I always seek in my life.

I'm graduating with a BBA with a Marketing concentration and a BA in English: Language and Literature. The English Honors program was one of my favorite endeavors in college because I truly loved getting to know my cohort and learning in a supportive environment. I also learned how much I enjoy learning about critical theory and conducting research and I look forward to applying to graduate programs to continue my research on racial capitalism, Marxist feminist studies, and Asian American literature!

At UW, I worked at doughnuts and coffee shops, literary agencies and publishers, and focused on mentorship with my RSOs. I have fond memories of speaking with professors after class outside Suzzallo, reading in the quad during Spring Quarter, and hosting brunches with my roommates. It's been an incredible 4 years!

Proudest Moment: When I solved a math problem at the dorm/ won the Hub Pool Tournament!

Thesis: The fundamental group and its applications

huangpubo@qq.com

I'm Pubo, a fourth-year math major. I like playing pool, hiking, and snowboarding! I'm sad that I can't snowboard in the near future because I'm not in Washington right now, what a Shame!

Proudest Moment: The summers I have spent in the field, living and working as an archaeological researcher in Oregon!

Thesis: “Through a Screen”: The Photogrammetry and Digital Curation of Belongings from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde”

sophimuro@gmail.com

Hi! My name is Sophie and I am a recent graduate of the Anthropology Department Honors Program! I am passionate about decolonizing museum collections and archaeological methods in order to create accessible resources for extant community members. In Fall 2020, I will begin a graduate degree in Museum Studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., with the long-term goal of working in collections management and curation. My time as an honors student has allowed me to travel, research, and build lasting connections with professors and community members!

Proudest Moment: I have been able to meet many amazing people, especially through OMAD, that inspired me.

Thesis: Analysis of B cell gene expression during HSV-2 reactivation

During my years at UW, I have opportunities to be a part of many different associations, such as OMAD, TriO McNair, Research Labs... Through there I have learned to become a better version of myself. I am proud to have met all of the amazing people that I met. They were the source of inspiration, and also the reason how I found my passion. I would love to continue pursuing my passion in immunology in the future. In my free time, I love listening to music, eating food and watching cute videos.

Proudest Moment: In ESRM 315, we took a field trip to Mount St. Helens and had a tour of a forest lead by Jerry Franklin. He is an inspiration in the forestry world, so getting to meet him was an amazing opportunity.

Thesis: The Effects of Stand Age, Species, and Geographic Location on Seed Counts Within Serotinous Cones

ashleyhillis2020@gmail.com

Hi! My name is Ashley Hillis and I am graduating with a degree in ESRM with a focus in forest management and with departmental honors. My time at UW has been filled with so many research opportunities that have provided invaluable experience. For instance, I worked with two different UW grad students in the Quantitative Ecology lab monitoring different types of animals. I also worked for the center in urban horticulture collecting data on the beautiful cherries trees at UW to help make a model to predict when they will bloom. I also took my research interest outside of UW and did a summer of fieldwork with Pacific Wildland Fire Science Lab. I spent the summer under the California sun measuring vegetation and tree DBH in high severity burned areas. When I came back to UW I spent my senior year continuing research in fire disturbances by studying serotinous cones and different variables that affect the seeds they contain. I did this work under the guidance of Michelle Agne a Ph.D. student in the Harvey Lab. Over the summer I will continue doing work with the Harvey lab doing fieldwork. In the future, I plan on continuing my passion for environmental science and attending graduate school.

Proudest Moment: I am proudest of my honors thesis because it was challenging. It required intense focus, adaptability, and persistence.

Thesis: Las semillas de la sombra (Shadow's Seeds)

Hi, I’m Terezia. I have nurtured the dream of earning a B.A. for a long time. I have always loved the Spanish language and was fascinated by its musicality and potential to express emotion. However, it was through the study of literature written in this language that I realized how deeply Spanish resonated within me.

Proudest Moment: Receiving the Mary Gates Research Scholarship.

After transferring from UCLA in my first-year year, I have never once regretted my choice to return to my hometown and to UW. I have been very fortunate to have been afforded a number of monumental opportunities during my time as a student; I became a Mary Gates scholar in spring 2017, I studied abroad in San Sebastián, Spain in summer 2017 to complete my Spanish minor, and I have worked for two years at the Kevin King Lab in the UW Psychology Department. Through this lab, I developed and completed my departmental honors project, entitled “Impulsive Behavior as a Strategic Coping Response to Stress and Negative Mood”. These accomplishments did not come without sacrifice; I worked three jobs to support myself through my classwork and my various interests. These collective experiences motivated me to finish classes two quarters ahead of my planned graduation and move on to work full time at Northwest Neuropsychology Learning and Behavior Services, where I hold the title of Psychometrist and Behavioral/Educational Consultant. This fall, I look forward to continuing with this clinical position as well as beginning coursework for my master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Seattle University. I would like to extend my deep gratitude to my mentors, including Dr. Kevin King and Madison Feil, as well as to my friends and family for supporting me throughout my undergraduate career.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW was seeing my hard work in applying for internships pay off. Junior fall quarter I worked with my mentors and advisors to edit my resume and learn how to best pitch myself and my background to companies. I ended up interning at AWS which resulted in a full-time offer come this September. I am very grateful for all the people who have cheered me on along the way!

Thesis: The Dawn of Disaster : Political Critiques in The Word for World is Forest by Ursula Le Guin and Dawn by Octavia E. Butler

perroneoli@gmail.com

The past four years at UW have been more than I could have ever asked for! While at UW I have been a member of Delta Gamma, a two-time study abroad student, a FIG leader, a member of the Honors Program, a student in the Professional Sales Program, and an avid hiker, skier, and Seattle explorer. I am endlessly grateful for the friends I have made and for the communities that have fostered my growth. After graduation I will be working for Amazon Web Services (AWS) as an Associate Account Executive right here in Seattle. I look forward to continuing to call this place home. Go Dawgs!

Proudest Moment: Graduating and earning my Baccalaureate degree from the University of Washington with Departmental Honors has been my proudest moment here. It demonstrates my discipline into being a critical thinker and continuously learning. It is more than just a piece of paper earned, it is a journey in which I committed my blood, sweat, and tears to.

Thesis: “Maybe I Shouldn’t Buy a Coffee so I can Pay Off my Student Loans”: Racial Differences in the Moralization of Student Debt

yanac@uw.edu

This is me. A self portrait drawn in graphite. This portrait captures much more of who I am than a photo ever will because I created this representational image of myself, who I am, and what I see. I love drawing, painting, and sketching but I also am a child and first time University graduate of immigrant parents. I have seen and experienced many cultures and ways of life and gone through life's journey leading me here to the University of Washington. During my time here I have gained experience and educated myself in as many disciplines as possible such as art, technology, computer programming, and Sociology. All of these may seem unrelated on the surface but really they all have a connection in the way we learn as people, how we as a society and culture interact with each other, and how we as people develop our identity and sense of self. For four years at the University of Washington I explored the nuances of life, learned about various disciplines in many different fields of knowledge, which all gave greater meaning to my life and my journey for the future. Especially, as an Honors Sociology student and researcher I delved into the studies of society, culture, and people and why we create the lives that we do. Getting down and dirty into the field of social science research taught me a lot about the tendencies of society and the conceptualizations of morality. However, as I learned about other people I also learned about myself which is the greatest gift that this educational journey has given me.
Looking back on my past four years here at the University of Washington and my life I have also taken part in so many amazing positions and opportunities from working with Senator Maria Cantwell to the Seattle City Prosecutors office in the Criminal division to computer software and programming to the Honors Sociology program during my last year here. I am grateful for every single one of these experiences as they have taught me about myself and what my true passions are in life. No matter what I choose to do with my future each opportunity taught me valuable knowledge and skills that are irreplaceable.
For my future I want to incorporate all of my passions and all of these experiences together because no career, job, or area of life is isolated. Science and technology require art just like art requires ideas of science, technology, and innovation. I am excited for what is to come and everything that I will succeed in.

Proudest Moment: Organizing outreach visits to high schools to teach bioengineering to schools with diverse populations that have traditionally been underrepresented in the field of bioengineering.

Thesis: Classification of Alzheimer's Disease Patients using Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-based Network Connectivity Analysis

hkredden3@gmail.com

Hello! My name is Hyae Won (Hannah) Redden and I am a senior graduating from the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Biochemistry. I was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. when I was three years old, growing up first in Little Rock, Arkansas and later University Place, Washington, before starting school here in Seattle.

Throughout my time at UW, I have been fortunate to have taken part in so many transformative experiences through taking engaging courses, participating in extracurricular activities, and interacting with so many extraordinary people. Some of my most meaningful experiences include coordinating a reading program at Seattle Children's Hospital and the UW Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; receiving a Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in Nepal, where I was able to assess health technology needs in the OB/GYN department; coordinating a website for Science Explorers, a graduate student group that develops science lesson plans for elementary-aged students; serving as Outreach Chair for the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) at UW for the past 2 years; and being a part of the Department of Bioengineering Diversity Committee, where I was not only able to contribute to improving efforts to improve diverse outreach, but also reflect on inequalities that exist in society and in higher education and think critically about action items to address such issues. These experiences, in conjunction with my research and academic studies in biochemistry and bioengineering, have fueled both existing and new passions and I hope to take these perspectives with me as I pursue a career in healthcare.

In my free time, I enjoy bullet journaling, hand lettering, taking on miscellaneous arts and craft projects, reading (especially autobiographies and memoirs), and traveling. My favorite travel memories during my time as an undergrad include holding a newborn baby at an outreach center in Bolde, Nepal, working as a patisserie assistant in a tiny little town called Nitry in France, and learning more about my home country. After graduation, I hope to continue learning about different cultures in the communities around me as well as while traveling abroad.

And of course, I wouldn't be here today without all of the amazing people that have helped me along the way, so thank you to the amazing peers, professors, and mentors that have contributed to such a great undergrad experience! Also, I'd like to thank my family for all of the endless love and support!

Proudest Moment: Working at the Daily and meeting a bunch of great people there!

Thesis: Race, Class, and Light Rail Transit: Examining High-Income Demographic Change In after Light Rail Transit in Seattle

My Website

I came to the UW interested in working as a journalist, with research as the last thing on my mind. But, through my time at UW, I gained a passion for demographic research through the support of my peers and mentors in the department of sociology. This year, I have been working on my honors thesis which has been one of the greatest learning experiences so far. I was fortunate to be paired with an excellent faculty advisor and to have many other informal mentors help along the way. I was fortunate enough to win the Mary Gates Research Scholarship for my thesis and be invited to present my work at the American Sociological Association.

This summer, I will continue my research in the social sciences as a pre-doctoral fellow at The Johns Hopkins University Department of Sociology.

Proudest Moment: Establishing residency in Washington

emmajewellscher@gmail.com

I am from San Diego, California, and am lucky that during my time at UW I've had the opportunity to passionately pursue multiple areas of interest. As a journalist my work has been featured in over 20 different publications ranging from the hyperlocal to international levels. My junior year, I was able to work full time in Olympia, Washington covering the state legislature, and in Freetown, Sierra Leone as a columnist. In between these jobs I was lucky to spend a spring in Rome, Italy studying religious institutions as part of a study abroad program. I've also had the opportunity to work on multiple sociological research projects, including as an employee for UW's Center for Evaluation and Research for STEM Equity (CERSE), as an intern for a study on substance use in military veterans, and on a study of my own which addresses structural inequality and power dynamics within the Greek Community. I've served as president of the Society of Professional Journalists, UW Chapter, worked on staff at The Daily UW for four years, and am a member of Gamma Phi Beta. In my free time I like to read, write, and spend time with my friends and my dog, Pigeon. After graduation I am working at a trade publication for veterinarians called VIN News, and afterward am applying to law school. I'm so grateful for the time I've spent at UW, and can't wait to see what the future holds!

Proudest Moment: Making the Dean's List over half of my quarters here.

Despite the struggles I've faced, the UW has been a wonderful place for me to learn and increase in intelligence, wisdom, and faith. The decision to change majors rather than schools, although a hard choice to make, was definitely the right one for me, as staying here allowed me to continue on the path I had already set out for myself and grow as a person, not only as a student. Although I am not sure what lies ahead, I know that what lies behind has prepared me for it, and now I only have to follow God's guidance.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW has yet to come, but will certainly be when I submit this Honors thesis in June!

Thesis: Bolstering “less-than-ideal lovers”: an analysis of the treatment of heroes in modern Jane Austen film adaptations

My Website webb.arad9@gmail.com

Throughout my time at UW, I changed my major about 17,000 times, slipped in Red Square three times, and took more than one Zoom class in my pj's in a closet in order to get a bit of quiet. With all of that said, I had an absolutely, mind-blowingly amazing time. I have met life-changing people, settled on a degree that I absolutely love (go, book nerds!), and have had countless experiences that have made me a better thinker and a kinder person. I am so lucky and ever-so-thankful to have attended this university and to have been a part of English honors. Thank you so much to everyone who supported me along the way.

I look forward to a hopeful career in editing following my graduation because, after four years of reading a bunch of words, apparently I just haven't had enough.

Proudest Moment: Finding my best friends at Rainy Dawg, completing my thesis, and graduating Magna Cum Laude!

Thesis: "We Gon' See the Future First": Subjection, Melancholy, and Queer Utopian Aesthetics in Frank Ocean's Blonde

My Website samwooley@comcast.net

Originally from Edmonds, Washington, I transferred to the UW my sophomore year after a short stint at Occidental College in Los Angeles. I quickly declared my English major after taking Jessica Burstein's captivating course on Modern and Postmodern Literature, where I fell in love with Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf. In my senior year, I completed the English Honors program, which allowed me to more closely explore my interest in popular media and its relation to temporality and identity. Specifically, I explored Frank Ocean's recent album Blonde and the future-oriented queer utopian aesthetic I understood it to be articulating. Outside of school, I have been involved with Rainy Dawg Radio since my first quarter on campus. That Fall, I applied to be a volunteer DJ at the student-run radio station. I ended up DJing there for two years, and this most recent year, I was able to serve as the station's Music Director. Rainy Dawg was a wonderful experience for me, allowing me to ground myself in a community within this massive campus. My future plans are currently undecided: in the next year, I hope to travel, write, and keep making rent, and in the long-term future I aim to pursue a career in either academia, high school education, literary publishing, or public radio, or perhaps some combination of these.

Proudest Moment: I helped to found and direct an organization at UW called Capillaries: The Journal of Narrative Medicine. Capillaries is a quarterly journal, intended for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff from all departments in the humanities and sciences to explore the commonalities we share as humans and to understand how both objective facts and subjective feelings intertwine in healthcare. Since February 2018, we have worked to provide a safe space for community members to discuss and share their most vulnerable and often silenced experiences through writing and art. Recently, we published our Spring 2020 journal, featuring 60 works of narrative prose, poetry, and artwork, created by students and healthcare workers about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: https://www.capillariesjournal.com/

Thesis: The Role of STING in Latent and Lytic KSHV Infection of Primary Endothelial Cells

Hi, I’m Alice! Looking back on the past four years at UW, perhaps the word that best captures this experience is “homeostasis” –the process by which a living entity maintains a steady internal system while adjusting to changes in its external environment. Although the term is often used in a biological context, it has resonated with me on a more philosophical, human level: My UW experience has involved constant interrogation and assessment of my own internal values and aspirations in response to the university environment. Upon starting college, I was interested in understanding both the biological and psychosocial facets of human health and thus immersed myself in classes ranging from medical bacteriology to medical anthropology. I was also drawn, however, to my classes in the English Department. The process of writing and sharing my own poetry was empowering, and studying literature ranging from Victorian novels to modern short stories from Ghana provided the most powerful examination of what it means to be human –from how we navigate moments of love and loss to how we make sense of our positionality in our community and the broader world.

I am humbled to have also had the opportunity to conduct and publish research through UW’s Microbiology Department, to found and lead a literary journal (“Capillaries”) dedicated to empowering students to share their stories on health and healing, and lastly, to give back to my community through volunteering/social justice work. These experiences have shaped my desire to pursue medicine in the future and to continue finding balance between various goals –conducting research, honoring the stories of the community through the arts, and helping others to navigate the most vulnerable moments of their life and attain their own sense of personal homeostasis.

To my mentors and professors who instilled in me a love for learning, to my labmates, project collaborators, and friends for their warmth, laughter, and support, and to the programs and organizations that provided me with research funding and grants for launching and sustaining Capillaries: Thank you for taking a chance on me these past four years. I am indebted to you all~

Proudest Moment: Speaking to students in Dr. Jessica Beyer's Cybersecurity class about my summer research experiences at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was a great opportunity to encourage social science students to get involved with technology research!

Thesis: Solving the Cyber Cooperation Conundrum: Lessons from Land, Sea, and War

My Website eleanormount1@gmail.com

I'm passionate about using technology to improve institutional inefficiencies and making complicated subjects simple. I've applied my interests and skills in a number of settings, including my Honors thesis with the Department of Political Science, a National Laboratory in a cybersecurity internship program, and most recently, my new job at a Healthcare tech company!

Proudest Moment: Graduating with honor from UW

During my 5 years in UW, I grew my interests towards accounting and economics. As an international student with a completely different cultural background, I developed a curious mind as to with regards to international economics issues. Due to this, I decided to get into the economics major and learn more about the economic dynamics behind the issues. While economics helped me dive into the financial world from a macro perspective, Accounting allowed me to analyze major market players in a microscope. I decided to study Business Analysis in my graduate school, using my knowledge in economics and accounting to analyze financial events with the help of technology.

Proudest Moment: Hosting an charity event with my club (Beta Alpha Psi) that raised over 15,000 for Seattle Children's Hospital and brought the Seattle business community together for a great cause.

jtp.1122@gmail.com

I just graduated from the Foster School of Business in Accounting and am returning next year to complete a Masters of Science in Taxation. I am interning in tax services at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) this summer in Seattle and am looking forward to progressing in a tax career.

My interests include:
1. Fitness: Weight-Lifting, Running, and Playing Basketball.
2. Watching Basketball, Football, and Baseball. 3.
Playing Fantasy Sports.
4. TV shows: Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and Billions are among my all-time favorites.

Proudest Moment: Getting chosen for departmental honors

Thesis: Speaking to Children: The Relationship between Adults’ Talk and Children’s Gender Identity

I am Seattle born and raised, and part of an amazing family of 6 people. I love to ski, do yoga, hike and read. I am interested in pursuing a career in psychology post grad.

Proudest Moment: My entire college career has been a moment of pride for me, my mother always dreamed of seeing me attending UW as a continuation of her legacy, but never got the chance. This was because she passed away my junior year of high school from cancer. I spent a great deal of time in mourning but once I saw a future at UW I knew I had to make her dream a reality. Now that it's 2018 and my graduation year, I truly feel like I’ve make her proud as well as myself.

Thesis: The Effects of Pond-Leveler Devices on Salmon Migration through Restored Riverine Beaver Pond Complexes

Born and raised on Lake Chelan, Washington, I followed in my mother’s footsteps and became a UW student, pursuing a degree in Natural and Environmental Resource Management. Since then I have accomplished a great deal, from my thesis looking at salmon migration sponsored by King County, to my role in refounding Acacia Fraternity, I have seen a lot of success at UW. This can be greatly attested to the brilliant staff here, along with the support of my friends and family over these 4 years. I plan to use my newfound understanding and knowledge to pursue a career in resource conservation, beginning with a seasonal job with the Forest Service this summer in the eastern Cascades and continuing with a trip to Bali, Indonesia to volunteer in turtle conservation. With the foundation UW has helped me lay I look forward to the rest of my life, continuing my education with my every pursuit.

Proudest Moment: My very first radio show on Rainy Dawg with my pal Joe

I once won a chocolate chip cookie baking competition during Junior year using my very own recipe. Other hobbies include, but are not limited to: drinking coffee. That is pretty much my life, eating cookies and drinking coffee. And playing with my cat.

Proudest Moment: Each years' Apple Cup -- go Dawgs!

Thesis: Neuromodulation Effects of Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) on Zebra Finch Premotor Nucleus

I participate in neuroscience research on campus and completed a research fellowship at Swedish Epilepsy Center last summer. Additionally, I volunteer as a mentor for disabled students with DO-IT Access STEM, and at an organization near campus that serves those facing homelessness. In my downtime, I enjoy dancing, being outdoors, and exploring Seattle. I’m looking forward to continuing my studies next fall at NYU School of Medicine!

Proudest Moment: Getting accepted to the Architectural Design Major

My Website

Coming to UW has been an adventure, from finding community around the campus, to studying abroad in Italy, to late, late nights working on architecture assignments. I still remember one of my earliest days on campus walking through Gould Hall, looking at all the amazing projects in the Arch. Design program, and saying aloud "I want to go to this school, and I want to do this program!" Fast forward a few short years later and it's on to the next chapter already.

I'll never forget the memories from the program. Across all the studios I was a part of, I had the opportunity to design urban farms, schools, sculptures, private retreats, and community spaces that gave me a chance to engage with real people on real sites. Learning not just how to draw a space, but to make a meaningful connection between people and places in a design is something I will take with me for the rest of my life. Getting the chance to study abroad was also an experience that resonated deeply with everything I've learned and grown to love about Architecture, and I could not be more grateful for the time we had there.

In addition to the major, UW gave me a chance to continue working at a writing center. As a high school student, I did Running Start full-time and worked at the Highline Writing Center, which is how I learned of the Odegaard Writing and Research Center. Working one-on-one with students across all majors and fields of study was such a privilege, and helping them craft their research, personal statements, and stories was one of the most meaningful connections to the campus I've had during my stay here.

I am both sad to reach the end of this chapter and eager to start the next one. Most of all though, I am grateful for the community and memories I've made at the UW.

Proudest Moment: I've had so much fun and have learned so much in my research of ravens in Yellowstone National Park. Getting involved with research was one of my goals going into college, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity I've had to be involved in the whole process, from data collection, to analysis, and finally the presentation of results.

Thesis: Using Fine-Scale Movement Data to Analyze Common Raven (Corvus corax) Roost Sites Across Time and Space in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Hello! My name is Georgia and I have spent the last four years immersed in the world of wildlife ecology. I never could have imagined all the opportunities that have come my way during my time at the UW. From studying abroad in Costa Rica, to leading students on field trips as a TA, to spending a week in Yellowstone National Park conducting research on ravens, it has been the most delightful adventure. Along the way I've learned to closely observe and identify nature in my surroundings and have gained a strong interest in ornithology, a field of science I now hope to pursue. With the support of my environmental peers and passionate professors (especially my mentor Dr. John Marzluff) I've gained the skills necessary to begin a career in wildlife science. I'm so excited to put my knowledge to use as a wildlife field technician and plan to eventually attend graduate school to further my skills as a wildlife biologist.

Proudest Moment: I am proud of the growth I have seen in my person over these past years.

Thesis: Investigating the Properties and Mechanism of Action of Potential Novel Analgesic AS1

Lais is an avid scholar with an interest in neuroscience, biology, nutrition, and more. During her time at the University of Washington, she worked in the de la Iglesia lab on a project on the NaV1.1 channel in Dravet Syndrome, for which she won the Mary Gates Research Scholarship in winter of 2019. She then was a Pain Research Scholar in 2019 and moved to the Dhaka lab. She wrote her Neuroscience Departmental Honors Thesis on her work in the Dhaka lab on the impact of a potential novel analgesic AS1 on aversion in zebrafish.
Outside of school, Lais spends time volunteering through COPE and at ROOTS Young Adult shelter. She also enjoys biking, drawing, and reading.

Proudest Moment: For as long as my passion for pediatrics has existed, I had an extraordinarily ironic fear of working with premature infants. My senior capstone clinical at the UWMC Neonatal Intensive Care Unit has allowed me to overcome my fear in providing care for the smallest humans and become a confident caregiver to children of all ages and sizes.

Thesis: The Doorway Cafe: Addressing Youth Homelessness with a Cafe Model

As my undergraduate career comes to a close, I reflect on all that I have accomplished in the last five years at UW and all the personal and societal values that hold more closely as a direct result of my public health and nursing education. I believe that my two deepest personal values, family and good health, are consistent with the values of most people. My future career as a pediatric nurse and practitioner not only upholds these two values, but gives me the unparalleled fulfillment of helping youth to live healthy lives so they too can become the nurses, doctors, engineers, teachers, and philanthropists of the coming generation.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment was being able to help new Bioengineering students as a TA for an introductory lab course. I take pride in being able to help others and pass on knowledge to future graduates.

Thesis: Rehabilitative Haptic Stimulation Device for Sensorimotor Impairment

I'm Max, a Bioengineering major with interests in neural engineering and data science. I've always been fascinated by the intersection of biology and engineering, and how we can use organic systems to inspire new technologies. I'm hoping to delve deeper into the how the complexities of nature can be captured by artificial processes, and how this knowledge can be applied in meaningful ways to improve human life.

Proudest Moment: Having a spark of curiosity in my heart and designing experiments with my research mentor. It feels ever so rewarding to know that every little step I took brings us a step closer to unlocking the secrets of nature.

Thesis: The Effect of Wnt5a Ligand on ROR2 Dimerization

tian.laura.li@hotmail.com

I have always been fascinated by the complexity and diversity of the human brain and the UW’s Neuroscience Honors program gave me the opportunity to explore the field of brain science. During my time as a student, I was not only able to learn about the various aspects of neuroscience in classroom, but I was also able to gain first-hand research experiences in lab. Starting from my junior year, I joined the Barria lab here at UW studying neuronal plasticity, which is the molecular basis of learning and memory of the brain.
In the meanwhile, I have always been a passionate ballet dancer and I am very grateful for the opportunity to also minor in dance here at UW. The diverse courses in dance technique, history, and anatomy allowed me to grow into a well-rounded dancer.

Proudest Moment: I am proud of all the opportunities I have taken to give back to my community.

Thesis: Effects of Regenerative Agriculture on Soil Health

I would like to make large-scale impacts in the world of environmentalism. I have been so grateful for the opportunities I have been given at the University of Washington. The most notable is simply access to the amazing outdoors of the pacific northwest. My program allowed me to spend so much time among the trees where I am happiest!

Thank you to everyone I've met along the way and to all of those who have made me into the woman I am today. I could not have achieved this without all of you.

Proudest Moment: Studying abroad and meeting lifelong friends

Thesis: Evaluation of Maasai-Water Relationships in a Changing Landscape: A Case Study of Former Kimana Group Ranch

As an Environmental Science major, I started at UW with an interest in protecting our environment and wildlife, and after these four, short years that interest has grown into a dedication for the decolonization of conservation practices and the inclusion of communities in environmental decision-making. I worked in the SEFS advising department, interned at King County for three summers, studied in Kenya, volunteered, danced in two dance departments shows, and made a lot of good friends and memories along the way.

I am so grateful for my time here and my support system. I couldn't have done it without them. I hope to effect positive change and work towards a more sustainable future, as well as hike, sew, and drink lots of tea.

Proudest Moment: Completing my degree in three years and exactly 180 credits!

Thesis: Elements of Compromised Autobiographical Memory and PTSD

vanesl@uw.edu

I love music, good reads, and getting outside! It was a pride and joy to lead The Veritas Forum at UW for three years and I have a similar desire to be gracious and conversational with people who think differently than I do. I love themes of generativity and creativity out of trauma, and I hope to bring such components of healing into my work with trauma populations in the future.

Proudest Moment: When I truly begun perceiving opportunities with excitement and eagerness as opposed to a sense of burdensome

Thesis: IoT in Space Exploration: Integrating the Customer Journey Value Chain

shoaib.nahas@gmail.com

I'm honored to have accelerated my undergraduate education to 3 years while pursuing both Marketing and Information Systems. I cherished my education by consistently engaging in academic and community projects in Seattle. Now, I'm thrilled to continue learning and developing as I embark into management consulting at ZS Associates.

Proudest Moment: Receive the Mary Gates Research Scholarship

I am from China. I like dancing, reading and yoga. My career direction is biomedical science, so I also did some research at several labs at UW.

Proudest Moment: Abigail's proudest memories at UW were traveling to Spain to conduct research and turning in her 53 page thesis in preparation for graduation.

Thesis: The Social Perception of Value: STEM vs. Social Science and Humanities, an Ethnography of Communication

My Website

Abigail is a journalist with a passion for learning about other cultures. On her study abroad trip to Spain, she fell in love with the people, languages, architecture, and history of a culture different from her own. While there, she conducted her first ethnography. Upon her return to the U.S., she decided to continue to learn about cultures through this research process.
At the same time, she used her curiosity to fuel her work in journalism, writing about social issues like homelessness, access, and diversity. This earned her the Pioneer Award for Excellence in Journalism. In addition, she has been a Dean's List student for her entire UW career which earned her an award for High Scholarship.
Following graduation Abigail will be looking for a position where she can use her writing, photo, and video storytelling skills to create truthful and informative journalism, PR, or content creation.

Proudest Moment: Landing a summer internship with the NBA and graduating with baccalaureate honors

jamie.koffman@gmail.com

Throughout college I became interested in wanting to pursue a career working in sports marketing. As UW didn't have a sports marketing undergrad program or any formal sports-centered education, I took it upon myself to use the honors program as the avenue through which I could conduct my own research on prevalent topics in the sports industry and supplement my formal business education with outside sports internships. Throughout my time in college I worked for the UW Athletic Department for three years, the Seattle Storm for two seasons, worked for Russell Wilson's management team (West2East Empire) for two years, and even interned for the NBA at league headquarters for a summer! After graduation I am moving to Chicago, Illinois in early July to begin a 6 month post-grad internship at a sports agency called Independent Sports & Entertainment. I am so excited to be on a path to pursuing my dream career in athlete representation!

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest moments at UW was back to my freshmen year when I took the public speaking class and did my final speech at the red square. Finding my voice as an international student in a big American college made me reflect on how much I seek for a platform to speak on topics that stand out to me and advocate for the community I care about.

Thesis: Exploring the role of peer mentorship in acculturation among international stduents

My Website

Jenel Li was born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in Beiijng, China. Growing up, Jenel had learned and spoke three distinct languages by experiencing three different education systems. Being a global news anchor was her childhood dream.

Jenel graduated from the University of Washington in 2019 with a Bachelor degree in communication. With her passion in interpersonal communication, cultural exchange, and social justice, she competed her departmental honors by doing her research on the role of peer mentorship in acculturation among international students. Jenel is pursuing her master degree in social work and business administration at the Columbia University. She is driven to grow as a communication professional who is capable of utilizing languages effectively to present herself, as well as being the voice of others, for a variety of purposes.

Jenel is passionate about leadership development and storytelling. Jenel is a hiring chair at the Associated Student of University of Washington as well as the vice president of the International Student Mentorship Program. She is dedicated to serving the communities in which she lives and works.

Proudest Moment: I had the opportunity to be a TA for Accounting 215, the introductory financial accounting course. As a TA I was able to inspire interest, and hype up the fundamentals of accounting to students, while also mentoring students beyond the classroom to chase their goals at UW and in life!

Thesis: How Macroeconomic Events Shape Venture Capitalist's Investments

Hi, my name is Madisen Mead and I graduated with a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and Finance. I am passionate about international business and world travel, and have studied abroad in Barcelona and Ireland, and completed the Foster Certificate of International Studies in Business (CISB) program and minored in Spanish.
My research in to the impact of world events on venture capitalist's investments, further inspired my interest in the growing Seattle startup and venture capital space!
I am excited to start at Deloitte in their audit practice in the Fall, and am a huge husky football and basketball fan- go dawgs!

Proudest Moment: Among all the small moments like trying new things and taking challenging courses that I am proud of, the memory of reading the first article I got published and printed in The Daily my first-year year was a very exciting and proud moment.

Thesis: The Progression of Presidential Speeches Over the Course of Operation Enduring Freedom

znshadan@gmail.com

I moved to Seattle from San Diego with a readiness to try new things, meet new people, and learn and challenge myself as much as I could. Even with the eagerness I had as a young first-year, the people, personal growth, challenges, and experiences these past four years brought me were more than I could have ever expected. My passion for people, social and political justice, and writing grew, and inspired me to double major in both Communication and Political Science. For nearly a year and a half I wrote for The Daily, exploring topics in wellness, politics, sustainability, and entertainment that let me dip my toes into journalism. In my second-year, I acted as a constitutive member and network ambassador for the UW Sustainability Action Network, headed by Lance Bennett, where my team and I worked to build a platform for various student organizations to collaborate and build a movement towards social, political, economic, and environmental sustainability. Then came my third year where I fulfilled a dream I dreamt when I was just a kid, and that was to live in Paris, France. My exchange brought me to studying at The Paris Institute of Political Studies, where I took courses in strategies and ethics of war, rhetoric in the French political system, and EU integration, amongst many other topics. I was able to ameliorate my French and German language skills, travel across Western and Eastern Europe both with others and independently, and meet people from all different cultural and academic backgrounds. The year reaffirmed my passion for diversity, culture, languages, and conversation rooted in listening and sharing experiences and perspectives. This affirmation encouraged me to pursue a thesis under the Department of Communication during my fourth year, where my ultimate research topic aimed to critically analyze the extent to which American exceptionalism exists and plays a role in political relations. The result was focused on comparing presidential speeches throughout Operation Enduring Freedom, speaking more narrowly to the differences between presidential communication, and suggested further explorations in assessing the purpose of political partisanship. In this past year, I also had the pleasure of working at the Odegaard Writing and Research Center, working with UW students, faculty, and staff in familiarizing themselves with and strengthening their writing processes.

While my plans after graduation are yet to be determined, I am hoping to find a position in the non-profit sector where I can apply what I have learned these past four years, and will continue to learn as I transition from student to professional, to change-making and cause-oriented work.

Proudest Moment: Getting accepted in the Columbus School of Law with a full scholarship

Thesis: Dysfunction: A Terminal Family Illness

I hail from Virginia and have lived there my entire life. However, for college I knew that I wanted to get off of the East Coast. After visiting UW, I fell in love with it and was determined to attend, and now I find myself about to graduate with a degree from an incredible university. The UW has been great to me. I have found the facility and people on campus incredible. Originally a chemistry major, a mishap in Calc 124 lead me to rethink my decision. I took a single english class the spring of my first-year year. It was American Lit 250 with John Griffith, and from there I was hooked! I changed majors and became an English major. I instantly fell in love with the program and the department. The professors were incredible! At UW, I have had plenty of Professors I did not like. But in the English department, I loved all of my professors! They are all great! And my fellow students were also great! Very friendly and intelligent. I decided in the spring of 2018 to apply to the English Honors Program and I am so glad I did because my experience in the program has been great! It takes the best parts of the English program and makes them even better! Overall, I am incredibly happy that I became an English Major and that I took the honors track.

Proudest Moment: Getting accepted to my dream summer research program and then an amazing Ph.D. program!

Thesis: The spectrum of the adjacency operator on graphs

I am so honored and happy to graduate from the University of Washington. I learned so much from many different mentors and am excited to continue on in the next chapter of my life. Uncountable thanks to UW for the amazing projects, coursework and memories!

Proudest Moment: Co-author an academic paper that will publish soon.

chengz96@uw.edu

Glad that I spent the most memorable four years as a husky. I was lucky to get involved in multiple life-changing research projects, preparing myself for the coming Ph.D. studies. The experience, and the connections with faculties and friends are the treasures for the rest of my life, and I believe everybody feels this way.

Congratulations to all the graduates!
Go Dawgs! Go Huskies!

Proudest Moment: Making a difference for low resource setting health care while studying abroad in Nepal!

I am a bioengineer fascinated with the brain and pursuing science that can help people suffering from neurological conditions. I will be attending the University of Pennsylvania next year as a doctoral candidate for a PhD in bioengineering, and I can't wait to continue being interested in science, trail running, and learning new things in a new city across the country!

Proudest Moment: Presenting my thesis to both a performing arts audience and an education/ecology audience at the Mary Gates Research Symposium. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of this work, I witnessed how people on both sides were able to see their disciplines in a new light--and envision the potential for this type of work to really make an impact through application to an array of disciplines.

Thesis: Environmental Dance: Unearthing How Dance Can Advance the Environmental Movement

madison.r.bristol@gmail.com

Madison Rose Bristol is graduating this summer with degrees in Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management (BS, Honors), Dance (BA, Honors), and Marine Biology (minor). In retrospect, these past four years have been her joy because she has been able to pursue her passion for environmental justice in tandem with being actively involved in the UW and Seattle dance communities. Madison has performed in 17 UW associated shows, has choreographed 8 pieces within the UW Dance Department and for the Seattle International Dance Festival, and has taught at local dance studios. On the environmental science side, Madison has explored a wide range of social and biophysical sciences during her undergraduate experience. For one summer, during a class on marine birds and mammals at Friday Harbor Labs, she conducted field research on the distribution and behavior of shorebirds at Argyle Lagoon, San Juan Island. This class reaffirmed her love for coastal organisms and environments, but also helped guide her in the direction of more anthropocentric work. She proceeded to teach and then become a site lead for the Pipeline Project's Environmental Alternative Spring Break Program, where she traveled to Oroville in Eastern Washington for two years in a row. Teaching environmental science to these middle schoolers made her want to incorporate community-based work into her professional career. This in some ways became a reality for her when she became an Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar in June 2018. She was placed with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Marine Reserves Program. Madison spent the summer assessing the socioeconomic impacts of marine reserves implementation through direct, one-on-one conversations with commercial and charter fishermen. This experience set her up with the skills to pursue further human dimensions research, and to envision herself as someone who could bridge understanding between communities in the future in the pursuance of environmental action.

During her senior thesis, Madison was driven by her curiosity about what could happen when her two passions collided. At first, she used choreography as her outlet, creating works implicitly and explicitly about the human response to environmental degradation. However, she also wanted to connect with and learn from a small community of emerging movement artists in Seattle who were using dance as a means to connect people emotionally to environmental issues. As a result, she conducted interdepartmental research on the multiplicity of ways in which dance can contribute to the environmental movement. Now at the end of her capstone experience, it has been entirely fulfilling for her to see how members of the Seattle dance community have been employing dance--a practice embedded in community, empathy, social connection, and alternate modes of communication--to compel environmental action. Be that through movement healing sessions to transform eco-anxiety into action steps, movement fundraisers, visceral dance performances, or sustainability through the arts, these people are entrepreneuring novel ways of evoking emotion to invoke action.

On the near horizon, Madison will be traveling to Taiwan to study environmental and social resilience, and after her travels she hopes to engage in political activism, dance projects that are environmentally and socially relevant, and work for environmental groups. She will be returning to school in the next year or so--perhaps in pursuance of a dual Master's through the Evans School of Public Policy and the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs-- to study environmental policy. With this professional education, she hopes to achieve her goal of leading societal change through creative and innovative management approaches and community-based engagement.

Proudest Moment: I am proud of finishing my Honors thesis, and of the relationships and opportunities I created during my time at UW!

Thesis: “Family is Everything”: Importance of Embracing Family for Indigenous College Students’ Educational Success and Leadership Development

faaumukaimana@gmail.com

I am Fa'aumu Kaimana, and I am graduating from the UW with majors in Medical Anthropology & Global Health, and Sociology. I explored the concept of family in my honors thesis, which investigates the role of family in Indigenous students’ educational success at the University of Washington. In a year's time, I hope to pursue a doctorate program in Indigenous Studies or a related field, and research the relationship between language and resilience among Seattle area Indigenous communities.

2020 President's Medalist (Four-Year Award), awarded by President Cauce at graduation
2020 Husky 100 Award Recipient, awarded for an exemplary Husky Experience inside the classroom, in communities, and beyond
2020 Curtis Wienker Award for Best Honors Thesis in Anthropology
2020 Albert W. Black Undergraduate Community Service Award

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW is completing my senior thesis after two years of research.

Thesis: Novel Biosensor Design for Small-molecule Drugs and Neuropeptides

I am from Vietnam. I am thrilled to be graduating in BS Biochemistry this June. At UW, I have spent my time in Dr. Liangcai Gu's lab in Biochemistry department studying biosensors. I had a strong passion for pharmacy since I was young. In my free time, I love traveling, cooking, and reading history books. After graduation, I will be staying at UW to pursue my PharmD program.

Proudest Moment: Becoming a Bonderman Fellow

Thesis: Diet Composition of Carnivores in the Western United States Over the Last Century

thadeus@uw.edu

From a very young age, I have had a love for the outdoors and studying animals. Both of my parents have jobs in the environmental field, leading me to aspire to be like them when I came of age. They have been my biggest supporters and I cannot thank them enough for encouraging me while I pursue my dreams. I am currently an undergraduate student in my last year at the University of Washington. I am obtaining a B.S. in Environmental Science and Resource Management with a focus in Wildlife Conservation. I am also minoring in Quantitative Science. Before attending the UW, I transferred universities twice while balancing financial hardships with my scholarly career. I am extremely proud to be graduating alongside my peers, having finished my bachelor's in only four years. My time here at the University of Washington has provided me with many resources and truly set me up for the future. While at the UW, I have worked in both the Predator Ecology lab and the Disturbance Ecology lab in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. Both experiences have prepared me for a career in the realm of ecology and inspired me to continue my education in a graduate program. Before starting graduate school, I have accepted a wildlife technician position with the University of Illinois - Springfield where I will be reintroducing and monitoring state endangered Osprey. Following this summer, I have the privilege of travelling the world as part of the Bonderman Travel Fellowship. My long-term career aspirations are to work for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife or United States Fish and Wildlife Service managing wildlife populations, specifically focusing on predators.

Proudest Moment: Discovering why there are so many breakfast places with "pancake" or "waffle" in their names (e.g. Waffle House) but almost no breakfast places with "bacon" or "eggs" in their names.

Thesis: The Vegetable Economy

I was lucky to learn from some incredible friends, professors, alumni, and TAs during my time at UW. I'm forever grateful for these relationships. I encourage younger Huskies to befriend at least one professor and explore a random Honors class before they graduate. Go Dawgs!

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment is more of a collection of little moments. I was honored with the job of being a TA for two quarters and every time a student would come to me for help, we would work together to best tackle the topic at hand. My happiest and proudest moments at UW were simply watching the student's expression change from confusion to understanding.

Thesis: In-vitro Bubble-Enhanced Heating for Focused Ultrasound Treatments in the Brain

Hi, I'm Sierra. Although this is not exactly how I pictured the end, I am still so proud and thankful for the last four years. I have had the great pleasure of putting something of myself into every piece of my work here at UW and have found a passion and love for medical imaging and its applications in global health. I want to thank my family, friends, and co-workers for their constant support. And now, I am off to graduate school. TTFN!

Proudest Moment: Becoming a Battelle Scholar through Washington State Opportunity Scholarship

Thesis: Preventing Guidewire Loss During Venous Catheterization

Becky is working with Renda Palo and anesthesiologists Dr. Amber Franz and Dr. Bukola Ojo of Seattle Children’s Hospital to optimize central venous catheterization through UW Engineering Innovation in Health. Outside of school, Becky matches people in mentorship pairings as BMES Crosslink chair, and she spends most of her free time dancing. She fell in love with dance at the age of 4 when she took her first ballet class and throughout her childhood she was classically trained in ballet while also practicing modern, jazz, and lyrical dance. After a few years away from dance, she reentered the scene by learning salsa and bachata as she began school at the University of Washington. She was a member of the UW salsa club and assisted Professor Juliet McMains teaching salsa levels 1 and 2. After graduation, she will spend the summer working at Glossier in the Seattle Pop-up, teaching salsa and bachata dance, as well as learning how to dance zouk. In the fall, she will begin her role as a Consulting Analyst at Accenture.

Proudest Moment: When our team's work got accepted into ACL

Thesis: A Knowledge Incorporation Framework for Medical Natural Language Inference

During my four years at UW, I found my interests in computer science and linguistics, two seemingly irrelevant fields that are actually connected in many ways. I eventually ended up doing research at their intersection, natural language processing (NLP). I've been fortunate to have had amazing research experiences at Prof. Fei Xia's lab as well as in the industry, and the classes that I've taken at UW have excellently prepared me for these opportunities.

I will be returning to UW for my Master's degree to continue my learning!

Proudest Moment: I'm proud of all the world I've done (UW certainly put me through a lot!), and capping it all off with my thesis (a year of work!) is quite satisfying indeed.

Thesis: Manifolds, Motivated

My Website

Interested in pure math (from "classical" subjects like algebra/analysis/topology to "modern" ones like theoretical CS/algos) and maybe some programming; I also enjoy music (particularly classical, as I am a pianist) and hiking/just vibing outdoors (perhaps due to having been raised in Boulder, CO), and of course the standard fare like movies, reading, thinking about art/humanity/the universe, etcetera.

Proudest Moment: when my department annonced my name as a honor student

i1980198@uw.edu

I am UW student in Seattle campus, and I studied double major. I am immigrant from Iraq, I came in June 2012. I am mother for three kids. I lived hard life with more war, stresses, and lots of responsibilities, but all of that give me motivation to continue seeking better life and achieving my goals. I started to study at as soon as I came to the US. I am working in integrative brain research at Seattle Children Hospital Research institute to find a cure for diseases that associated with the motion deficit. This is just part of my journey, my goal is to study medical school and be a neurosurgeon and researcher at the same time to involve in treatment of untreated diseases, such as Parkinson's diseases and multiple sclerosis. Even though, I had hard life and lots of responsibilities, I still go forward to achieve my goals and serve the community, to prove to people who surrounded me that being mother is not a barrier to achieve your dream and living hard life should not stress you but it can be good motivation to push you forward and be what you like to be.

Proudest Moment: Thus, after completing bachelor's degree at this amazing UW, I hope to pursue my dream of becoming medical doctor and the medical anthropologist and hope to serve as the stepping stone towards inclusive community-building with cultural humility here and in Myanmar.

Thesis: apartheid, the State of Exception, and Rohingya Women in Myanmar (Burma): An Auto-Ethnographic Intervention

trinity.ttmo@gmail.com

Hi there! My name is Thu Thu and I am originally from Myanmar (Burma). Studying at the UW has been a great privilege for me as I have got to meet so many passionate and amazing people who have now become my family. From cliff diving and dipping my feet in taro farms during the study abroad trip in Hawaii to excavating the role of my own in the society fueled by apartheid and health disparities, the UW has given me so many opportunities to challenge myself beyond my own fear and the limits! What's more, through writing poetry, auto-ethnography, and storytelling, I have become more mindful and aware of the racial disparities and injustice around us.

Proudest Moment: Implementing a composting program in the Alpha chapter of Chi Omega!

kgibian@uw.edu

I will be graduating from UW this spring through the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences with honors in wildlife conservation. I am passionate about predator-prey ecology and conservation education with the goal to enter the wildlife field as a wildlife technician. My interests include large carnivores, travel, and superheroes!

Proudest Moment: Serving as the editor for my JSIS Task Force report! Despite only meeting over zoom, our group bonded and produced more knowledge in 10 weeks than I ever imagined was possible. I’m proud to have pushed myself into accepting a leadership role that allowed me to learn so much from my peers.

Thesis: Covering Just Cause: U.S. Media and the 1989 Invasion of Panama

mayagreen555@gmail.com

At UW I’ve held two roles that shaped my experience. As a research fellow at the Center for Human Rights, I found a passion for freedom of information and archival research. Working as a writing tutor for intro-level Art History courses has both greatly improved my own writing and allowed me to encourage other students to explore the arts beyond just satisfying university requirements.

Writing my thesis over the last year was challenging and eye-opening. It allowed me to connect with expert faculty I wouldn’t have otherwise built relationships with and see many different ways to approach what initially seemed like a clear-cut problem.

For the summer after graduation, I’ll be continuing my work with the Center for Human Rights. In the fall will be moving to Madrid to work for the Spanish Ministry of Education as an English language and cultural assistant. I’m eternally appreciative for the professors, graduate student instructors, and staff who helped me grow and made the next steps possible!

Proudest Moment: Learning enough German in 9 months to have meaningful conversations during my study abroad.

Thesis: Functionalizing Exfoliated Black Phosphorus with Rhenium Carbonyl Species

davidhales@berkeley.edu

I came into UW undeclared and unsure about my academic interests. My first-year year I made some good friends in the honors general chemistry sequence and enjoyed the content so I applied to the chemistry major. I was lucky to find communities in STEM, music, and ultimate frisbee that helped me find a place in college. I'm super grateful for those communities and the all the awesome people I met through them. Spring and summer of my sophomore year I studied abroad in Heidelberg, Germany, and took classes in chemistry and German. As a lifelong introvert, my study abroad really helped to push me out of my comfort zone in a constructive way. Winter quarter of my junior year I started zooming through my double major in physics, which has been a uniquely challenging experience. At the same time, I also started research on black phosphorus chemistry as part of the Velian group. I'm thankful to Prof. Velian and all of the members of the Velian group for their patient mentorship and support as I learned what it means to be a scientist. I'm proud to graduate with departmental honors in both chemistry and physics. After graduation, I will pursue a PhD at UC Berkeley in synthetic inorganic chemistry.

Proudest Moment: Leading the Husky Badminton Club in hosting the largest and only student-run tournament in Washington State

My Website

My time UW has been packed with opportunities and experiences which let me explore my interests and passions. I've also found a wonderful community in my majors, research, and clubs. After graduation, I will be continuing my research as a Washington Research Foundation Innovation Postbaccalaureate Fellow in Neuroengineering in the Perlmutter Lab.

Proudest Moment: Getting into Foster and Climbing Mount Rainier

simisonjack@gmail.com

I am passionate about technology and business. My favorite technologies include AI (self-driving, data, and more), VR, Blockchain, cars, and computer hardware. My love for business started through my love for technology at a young age. I am motivated to learn all things tech and how to capitalize on it. The technological frontier is always moving forward and it is as exciting as ever.

Proudest Moment: I had my very first job, and got my first paycheck ever.

Thesis: Examine the effects of Covid-19 on Crime Incidents in U.S. Cities

Hi, my name is Gloria. I feel over the moon to graduate this summer with a departmental honor. It has been a wonderful four years, although we were hit by an unprecedented pandemic, here we are celebrating the graduation of Class 2021! Out of classroom, I love music and you can probably catch me with earphones on most of the time. I also enjoy traveling, wondering around the city with a few friends and families, there is nothing more healing than that.

Proudest Moment: I am a first generation college student.

My Website nikoul@uw.edu

Hello! I am Nikou. I study in physics and mathematics at UW. On campus, I was a student worker at HFS, a research assistant in the physics department and I-LABS, a math tutor, and an undergraduate research leader. The experience together has shaped my perspectives and goals. I am grateful for my undergraduate journey at UW and I will be pursuing a PhD in medical physics in the fall.

Proudest Moment: When the paper was accepted to RSS.

Thesis: Learning Cluttered Scene Manipulation with Goals

My Website

I study Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington. I am an undergraduate researcher advised by Prof. Dieter Fox in Robotics and State Estimation Lab. I also work closely with Dr. Yu Xiang in NVIDIA Robotics Lab. My research focus lies in Computer Vision and Robotics. I also have broad interests in Optimization and Machine Learning.

Proudest Moment: During the final gallery demonstrations for DXARTS 471: Mechatronics Art, my friend's art project was suddenly failing. They had invited their family and were in tears that after all the work they put in, it was inexplicably breaking. While other students demonstrated their projects, I applied my experience with embedded systems to debug the project. Approaching the last minute, even after being told by my friend to give up, I figured out what was wrong and got it working again. The demo went flawlessly. My friend hugged me and their mom thanked me, and I don't think I've ever felt more proud of myself.

Thesis: Hardware Implementation of a Wireless Backscatter Communication Protocol for Brain-Controlled Spinal Interfaces

My Website anand272@cs.washington.edu

My purpose is to make the world more beautiful, sustainable, and efficient through innovation and empathy. Solving complex problems, defined through engineering, is the core of my character. I'm developing a strong foundation in computer engineering, which I'll apply to fields such as neural computation and engineering. Through my experience at UW, I've contributed to a variety of innovative projects (robotics competitions, hackathons, neural engineering research, virtual reality in prison, etc...) utilizing a variety of tools (code, laser cutters, oscilloscopes, soldering irons, etc...). I've met some of the most amazing people and learned some of the most fascinating concepts here, and I'm excited to pursue my Master's here in the fall.

My hobbies include free skates, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and playing video games like Titanfall 2. My favorite shows include Avatar the Last Airbender and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Taking Neuroethics and Moral Issues of Life and Death, while witnessing local activism over the last couple quarters, has motivated me to delve into essential questions relatively unrelated to engineering, but an engineering perspective doesn't necessarily hurt. So while I'm interning at Cisco Webex Teams this summer, I'll also be reading up on topics like ethics and intersectionality.

Proudest Moment: Being able to graduate with honors

Thesis: Resting-State EEG predicts learning rates in different languages

Majored in Early Childhood and Family Studies and Psychology, I am satisfied with my journey of learning at UW. Last year, I was able to study at University of British Columbia as an exchange student for an entire year. It was probably one of my best memories at UW. I am so glad I made the choice to study abroad to experience different cultures and to expand on my horizon. The guidance offered by my thesis mentor has greatly helped me to finish my project. I am deeply appreciative of her help. My mentor at the Husky Leadership Program is very supportive of me. I have learned a lot from her. After graduating from UW, I will pursue a graduate degree in education at Teachers College in New York this fall.

Interests: foodie, finding good bubble teas, playing educational games, ice-skating, watching classic/old movies

Proudest Moment: Acknowledging the Original Stewards of the Land when presenting my thesis at the Research Symposium

Thesis: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Environmental Engagement

alishia.orloff@yale.edu

Alishia Orloff is an undergraduate researcher currently in her last year obtaining a B.S. in Environmental Science and Resource Management. She has a strong interest in terrestrial and riparian ecology. Conducting ecological research across the nation, she has developed a greater appreciation for Traditional Ecological Knowledges as a lens for developing holistic land management. Alishia aspires to share her experience in holistic scientific methodology and ultimately challenge dominant narratives of western ways of knowing. Aside from her ambitions in her field, she also takes great efforts to engage communities on sustainability through education in the Pipeline Project, restoration in the Society of Ecological Restoration, and food sovereignty at the UW farm. Alishia enjoys playing piano and flute in local ensembles and symphonies as much as she does freelancing and busking. Over her years at University, she has picked up interest in Ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, lifting, yoga, and oil painting. Continuing her endeavors, she will continue to question frameworks and push boundaries at Yale University for graduate school.

Proudest Moment: Interning in Washington D.C. with the support of the Jackson Munro Public Service Fellowship!

Thesis: Effectiveness of Critical Ongoing Resource family Education (CORE-Teen): Support for Resource Parents of American Indian Teens

tao.stacie@columbia.edu

In my four, short years at the University of Washington, my interest in working with young children has grown into a life-long dedication for dismantling intergenerational & systemic inequity and racial disproportionality in the child welfare system. Numerous non-profit organizations and early intervention/learning centers have guided me towards a path of advocating for trauma and culturally informed social policy. As I pursue this work, I aim to create lasting social change through a transformative justice lens and uphold intentional practices to dismantle traditional power dynamics that have led to deep system inequity. Outside the classroom, I spent my spare time involved with research, public service, study abroad, and playing my trumpet with the Husky Marching Band & UW Symphony.

I am immensely grateful for the opportunities and support I received through the University of Washington; the womxn of color faculty and mentors that encouraged me to dream bigger; and my social work cohort for being role models of social change, accountability and grace.

I am eager to embark on my next journey of pursuing a Master’s of Science in Social Work at Columbia University, where I will be working with The Center on Poverty and Social Policy.

Proudest Moment: Completing my 9 month long capstone project and finding an amazing team of support throughout my journey at UW.

Thesis: Utilizing Technology for Interpretive Materials in Urban Parks (Friends of Discovery Park)

pakgina96@yahoo.com

I'm entirely grateful for my experience at the University of Washington. I have learned so much about how to think critically and work with different groups of people on a variety of projects, while also balancing work and a social life. I'm so passionate about the environment, sustainability and building community! I cannot wait to use these skills I have gained through my undergraduate experience to make an impact on the world, no matter how small or large!

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW is being named the recipient of the 2021 Herring Phelps Award for Scholarly Activism for Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies University of Washington, Seattle. Being accepted into the GWSS Honors Program and achieving my goal of Summa Cum Laude. Also, having the courage at the age of 50 to complete my undergraduate degree at the University of Washington.

My Website audilbrown@outlook.com

I am a visionary committed to the elevation of Black culture. My work uses vulnerability as a site and methodology to study my African ancestor’s ancient healing techniques to cultivate a path to generational healing of the trauma inflicted on African and Black people. At the age of 50, I accepted the challenge from my family to finish my college education. It was essential to create a path of Black excellence for myself, my family and to inspire others who look like me to complete their education. I accomplished all of the goals for myself (Summa Cum Laude, Dean’s List & Honor Student). I plan to continue my education and pursue my graduate and doctorate degrees.

Proudest Moment: Presenting my Honors Senior project, potential water reclamation from the campus utility tunnels, to the CEE faculty and staff.

a.ratcliff529@gmail.com

As an undergraduate, I have been able to work on several projects to improve campus sustainability. I have been a project manager for UW-Solar since I was a first-year. Through the group, I have been instrumental in the installation of solar arrays on rooftops of three residence halls and the Life Sciences Building as well as supported solar system deployments in Jayuya, Puerto Rico. Additionally, I contributed to the installation of a lab water reclamation system for the Life Sciences Building, jointly completed a feasibility study for greywater reclamation systems on campus, and am completing a master study on reclaiming steam condensate and groundwater from the underground campus utility tunnels.

Upon graduation, I will be working as a mechanical engineer for PAE Consulting Engineers, Inc. I will continue to impact campus sustainability in my professional role; I will be working on the MEP design of several UW buildings that PAE is contracted to work on, such as the Population Health Facility, the UW Health Sciences Education Building, the Kincaid Hall renovation, and the UW Foster building.

Proudest Moment: graduation

Thesis: Relating Individual Differences in Culturally Unfamiliar Music Comprehension to Neurocognitive Aspects of Second Language Aptitude

My name is Jiafei Li. I majored in Psychology and minored in Informatics. I love music and literature, and have always been interested in their impact on us human. Therefore, under the mentorship of Dr. Prat, I conducted the research of music comprehension, as well as its relation to language learning. I hope to continue to "be boundless", to keep exploring various fields of knowledge and extending my limit.

Proudest Moment: I helped to establish the new Law, Societies, and Justice Student Advisory Council in order to further student goals and promote antiracist policies and practices in the department. Through this experience, I not only had the opportunity to do meaningful work and give back to my academic community, but also got to work with my super awesome fellow council members!

kelseybkinoshita@gmail.com

Hello my name is Kelsey! I just graduated with a BA in both Philosophy and Law, Societies, and Justice. I'm interested in the intersections between law and philosophy, especially pertaining to ethics and justice at both a national and international level.

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest memories at UW was having the opportunity to share my passion for bioengineering with other students through my position as a TA!

Thesis: Regulating chimeric γc cytokine receptor expression through CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted integration

Hi, I'm Piper! It has been an amazing four years at UW, and I'm so grateful for the many amazing experiences I've had here. It was a pleasure learning alongside so many brilliant students and having the chance to explore my passions through classes, volunteering, and research. I am excited to spend the next couple years working before heading to grad school or medical school! Thank you to my professors, friends, and family for their never-ending support and encouragement in the pursuit of my dreams.

Proudest Moment: My proudest UW moment was presenting at the UW SPH Undergrad Symposium on Standardizing Gender Affirming Care as I had the trans flag ripping across the powerpoint screen. I am proud of being a part of the work in creating access for folx in 6 states in adovcating for health care needs.

Thesis: Implementing ED-PrEP to prevent HIV for MSM within LMICs in community health settings

jakari.dxc@gmail.com

Hello! I am a community health worker and public health researcher advocating for LGBTQIA+, Gender & Racial equity through community-based partnerships locally and globally to overcome systemic health barriers in access, prevention and education. From conducting oral histories of front line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic to delivering HIV medications for the LGBTQIA+ community abroad using social media; My goals are to uplift my community by developing tools and agency needed to liberate themselves.

Proudest Moment: Completing my honors thesis and making it to NCAAs my sophomore year

Thesis: Diffusion of Agricultural Innovation: A case study of the use of biosolids in the state of Washington

Annamaxwell@Comcast.net

I had the honor of running on the UW Track and Field and Cross Country team for the past five years while completing a BS in Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource management and a BA in Political Science. I love hiking, biking, trail running, birding, photography, and anything to do with rivers. I hope to run the Boston Marathon next year while I study for the LSAT.

Proudest Moment: When I stopped taking the math and science classes I hated and started embracing my passion for education. My educational experience at UW finally started to feel like I was doing everything right for myself.

Thesis: Japanese Incarceration: Intergenerational Communication of Trauma and Cross-Generational Effects of Incarceration on Sansei Generation as Seen Through Densho Interviews

I am passionate about educational equity, race relations, and actively engaging with social justice issues. I am grateful for the opportunity to write this honors thesis that not only illuminated how identity, trauma, and reclamation were interwoven, but also aided in deeply transforming my sense of self in relation to identity and research. I feel honored to have accepted an award for this thesis in the Communication department at UW during Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month and Mental Health Awareness month. I wouldn't have been able to accomplish this without the support of my adviser and all the other professors who guided me through the process and gave me abundant advice. I wish to continue actively serving the communities I come from through educational or community organizations, or working within schools. Outside of school, I love to binge crime procedural dramas, catch up on anime, discover new happy hours, and plan my next travel destination.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment has been establishing the UW Eye Club; an organization that promotes vision care awareness and related philanthropic opportunities.

Thesis: The evolution of French in a province surrounded by English

My Website radnick9@gmail.com

I have always had an interest for the complexities of the human. My passion has guided me towards a career in healthcare. In particular, i’ve found the technical aspects of surgery to be most appealing. After conducting research for over three years, i’ve come to appreciate the finer details of biology and how fascinating the life sciences can be. I was honored to be chosen twice as a Mary Gates scholar for my research. Sharing my research with others at the Undergraduate Research Symposium has been quite a memorable experience for me, where I’ve been able to converse with individuals and observe their diverse research interests. It was quite an inspiring event where I learned about the amazing work being done at the UW. Moreover, completing a dual-degree has given me the privilege to learn about two completely different studies, while still integrating them into my daily life. I’ve found that French gets me to think about every other educational aspect that Physiology cannot cover solely by itself. Whether it may be the practicality of learning the language itself, global and cultural history, or even philosophy and literature, I’ve felt like French has been a significant contributor in providing me a well-round education. I am eager to begin the next stage of my educational journey. Currently, I am completing my remote EMT training with the intent of joining my local county’s emergency services department and their search and rescue crew. Through this, I am hoping to gain useful life experience before I attend medical school.

Proudest Moment: Completing and presenting both my capstone and honors research projects with my parents in attendance!

Thesis: UnTape: Temperature-Sensitive Medical Tape with Pain-Free Removal

Rahaf Bashmail is graduating with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. She is an international student from Saudi Arabia who is dedicated to empowering women in STEM. This led her to take the initiative to reinstate the Women in Materials Science and Engineering (WiMSE) club as the new president to help support and mentor females in the major. Additionally, as an Engineering Peer Educator (EPE), she served as an instructor and mentor to first-year undeclared engineering students. Rahaf’s primary research interests are in tissue engineering and medical device development, due to her passion in making a tangible impact in medical advancement for societal benefit. Throughout her time at UW, she has cultivated an interdisciplinary approach in her research projects to translate innovation in biomedical research to solutions for healthcare providers. As a CoMotion Mary Gates Innovation Scholar, she worked on developing an automated image processing sequence on MATLAB to segment and measure the fluid volume in the kidney, to aid in assessing the degree of hydronephrosis. For her capstone project, and as part of the Engineering Innovation in Health Program (EIH), she designed and developed a point-of-care diagnostic tool for intestinal obstruction that detects the presence of bile in neonatal gastric fluid. This year, as a Mary Gates Research Scholar, she completed her honors thesis in developing a medical tape that has stronger skin adhesion for critical medical devices while concurrently reducing the risk of medical adhesive-related skin injuries (MARSI) upon removal. Rahaf’s future goal is to earn her doctoral degree and work as a professor and researcher, acting in translation and application of biomedical research.

Proudest Moment: Finally learning and accepting to look past my GPA and focusing on the knowledge and relationships I built during my time at UW.

Thesis: Translingual Acceptance in English Composition: Emphasizing Meaning-Making for Students in Code-Meshing Curricula

As a former Running Start student, now graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in English two years early, I am beyond thankful for the numerous opportunities UW has given me in reaching my personal goals. My academic achievements and enrollment in the English Honors program have allowed me to challenge myself in new ways, revealing a form of perseverance within myself to maintain success through more strenuous academics. This has guided me further in wanting to become a secondary teacher in the near future, and the excitement I feel for educating students in the subject of English once I complete my Master's in Teaching! I hope to obtain my final degree by the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment is organizing an online event that raised $10,000 to be distributed between emerging artists and POC owned organizations during the Covid19 crisis.

bentayuw@gmail.com

(They/Them)
I am an artist, educator, and organizer that mobilizes art as a tool for social justice. I am a proud GSBA scholar, lifelong activist, and dedicated Seattle community member.

Proudest Moment: Learning to balance life and work during the busiest quarters and getting the most out of every experience

Thesis: Learning to balance life and work during the busiest quarters and getting the most out of every experience.

At Foster, I majored in Accounting, IS, and CISB. I am interested in business and different cultures. At UW I got to meet many different people and got to study abroad in Japan. My experiences taught me to challenge myself, be open to differences, and allowed me to have an expansive worldview. Therefore, I thrive on living in varying cultural and educational communities and find being part of vastly different areas of the world exciting. Outside of school, during my free time, I also just enjoy hanging out with friends, singing, and dancing.

Proudest Moment: Joining the Newbook Digital Texts Project and realizing my passion in research with Dr. Walter Andrews as my mentor

Thesis: Bitnation: Reimagination of the State-Citizen Relationship and Technological Optimism

My Website jiony4321@gmail.com

I was 13 when I left my hometown in South Korea and immigrated to the US. Understanding very little English and speaking even less, I could not imagine how achieved and proud I would feel after five years at University of Washington. Pursuing double degrees was no easy decision, but I was able to thrive thanks to the faculty and staff members at University of Washington who encouraged me to continue interdisciplinary learning and research.

Thanks to Dr. Walter Andrews, whom I met as an undergraduate researcher at UW, I stepped into the interdisciplinary path where I was able to combine my interests in international human rights and technologies. After graduation, I will be starting my first job as a Security Analyst in Chicago. After building more skills and experiences in the private sector, I hope to come back to the academia as a researcher in usable security and privacy tools and continue Dr. Andrews' legacy in interdisciplinary research.

As I move forward to the new city and the new chapter of my life, I will remember the excitement, fear, and courage I felt as a 13-year-old whose life started anew. I would like to thank my parents who made my education possible, all my friends who supported me through thick and thin, and UW faculty and staff members gave me countless valuable lessons.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at the University of Washington was creating an ethnographic scrapbook about Japan’s health outcomes, complete with interviews of my family and friends.

megan.r333@gmail.com

Hi! My name is Megan and I am majoring in Public Health-Global Health and minoring in Education, Learning, and Society. My interests lie in promoting inclusive and accessible spaces and advocating for equity among people of all races and genders. I have worked at the Fred Hutch COVID Clinical Research Center during the coronavirus pandemic. I enjoy using my public health background to connect with people from diverse backgrounds while being a part of new and exciting research. Thank you to all my professors, friends, and family for supporting me through my honors experience!

Proudest Moment: When I found out that Ghana's Ministry of Energy adopted two policy recommendations from my undergrad Donald C. Hellmann Task Force Program 2020 report on Sub-Saharan Africa renewable energies into the country's new Draft National Energy Policy!

I am a graduating senior and a first-generation college student. One of my favorite experiences at UW was traveling to Brazil through the FLAS fellowship. With that experience, I confirmed how much I love learning languages and engaging with people from cultures different than mine. I'm excited to keep learning and growing in the areas of literature and diplomacy.

I will always be grateful for being part of the Jackson School of International Studies and the Spanish Department and for the amazing friends and teachers that I met through my undergraduate studies.

Proudest Moment: I completed my economics honors thesis.

Thesis: The Impacts of Universal Health Insurance on Educational Attainment: Evidence from the Seguro Popular Program in Mexico

My Website shhsu@cs.washington.edu

Please visit my website for more details about me.

Proudest Moment: The Rainy Dawg studio is the most magical place on campus bar none. I spent many hours there on my show, planning operations of the station, and bonding with my staff and DJ corps.

Thesis: Right-to-Work Legislation and its Effects on Employment, Wages, Disability, and Healthcare Coverage: An Investigation Using Panel Survey Data

maxbryla@gmail.com

I was the General Manger of Rainy Dawg Radio for 2 years. I was the host of the Hot Sauce Time Machine, my weekly radio show. I love ambient, shoegaze, and punk music, among many genres. I'm also interested in data and economics, and hope to use skills I've gained to advance social equality and improve material conditions for the global and national poor.

Proudest Moment: Being apart of the Student Employee Leadership Board and representing UWild Adventures.

Thesis: Human-Wildlife Conflict in the Peruvian Amazon: How Community Engagement Can Change Wildlife Conservation

I always tell everyone that I joined PoE for the field trips. Everyone who knows me knows that what really drew me to Environmental Studies is my love of outdoor spaces. My time at UW has allowed me to a gain greater understanding of what privileges I have that allowed this love affair. The adventures I've had so far taught me that it is an opportunity to struggle and to pick myself back up both indoors and out. The accomplishments I'm most proud of are not those on paper but the impact I worked so hard to make on the people I worked for, young people, and my peers.

Proudest Moment: Finding my passion in social sciences and pursuing it through independent study

Thesis: The Meanings of Sustainability: Associations with Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Environmental science student interested in the human dimension of the environment. Pursuing a master’s degree in global environmental change and policy in London. Hope to enact positive change!

Proudest Moment: Being inducted to the Husky 100

Thesis: Deep Learning Applied to Unreliable Contact Prediction in De Novo Protein Models

My Website

I'm a new Ph.D. student at the joint Carnegie Mellon -- University of Pittsburgh Computational Biology program. My primary research interests are improving out-of-the-box deep learning methods for computational biology and biological simulation. I aim to improve therapeutics development and bioinformatics availability in low resource settings.

Proudest Moment: The feeling of relief & happiness from publishing two research reports within the span of three months!

Thesis: Victimization in Post-Conflict Recovery: The Effects of International Language, Media, and Social Identity on Persons with Disabilities in Sierra Leone

grace.stephenson@yahoo.com

These past four years have shaped both my personal and career goals - I have grown immensely and been able to explore and refine my interests in social justice, health, and human rights!

My passion for public health and justice strives from my belief that everyone deserves access to services and health. Yet so many people are systematically denied this right, particularly marginalized communities. I really hope that I can do my small part to push for equity in the US and abroad throughout my life.

Senior year, I was able to do research in two fields. Through the JSIS Honors program, I worked closely with professors and local organizations on research related to persons with disabilities in post-conflict recovery. Through Task Force, I was able to be a part of a lovely team that researched human rights abuses & ICE Air Operations in King County.

When I went to India for three months and worked at a few nonprofits my sophomore year, I knew that if I wanted to be useful I needed to learn Hindi. So I have been taking Hindi at the UW for the past two years. It's been really, really hard but rewarding! I hope to work on issues surrounding human rights in India one day, particularly around sexual and gender based violence.

Working with Its On Us, the campaign to stop sexual assault on college campuses, both nationally and at UW, I have been able to advocate for those affected and provide resources on campus. This continued as I did research on trauma-focused care on campuses with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Center! I have loved dedicating my time to something so important.

There are so many causes I want to work on - but when I'm not working I love to paint, travel, spend time outdoors, watch hysterically bad movies, and eat (a lot).

I am excited to start working in the field & hopefully traveling before grad school in a few years!

Proudest Moment: I was very honored to be offered the opportunity to pursue Departmental Honors and use the knowledge I had gained as an undergraduate research assistant toward an independent project!

Thesis: Molecularly Imprinted Chitosan Beads for Selective Removal of Perfluoroalkane Sulfonic Acids (PFSAs) in Water

vphanjones@gmail.com

Pursuing a degree at UW, I knew that I could make a difference in the way people interact with the environment through engineering. I'm very grateful for my time in the Aquatic Innovations in Materials Science (AIMS) Lab, where I was able to narrow the scope of my education and learn about current topics in water treatment. After graduation, I am looking forward to a career in sustainability for the betterment of people and the environment!

Proudest Moment: Getting the Foster Undergraduate Scholarship

raewang98@gmail.com

I'm thankful that the honors program has challenged me to research more in my interested academic areas. For my two ad hoc projects, I completed a research paper discussing America-China Trade War and one regarding "Clustering Performance Comparison Between Expectation Maximization Algorithm and K-means Using Spotify Data". Cheers to all the hard work and happy graduation to all the class of 2020 huskies!

Proudest Moment: Receiving an internship with a PNW artist!

I will be graduating from UW as a first-generation college student with a BA in Art History & History. During my time at the UW I've worked as a manager for the Student Technology Loan Program, a Cataloguing Intern for a PNW artist, and as an undergraduate tutor.

I have also been a part of Alpha Phi sorority, where I've held several leadership positions to help further improve sisterhood and philanthropic influence. I was also a part of History Honors Society as the Treasurer and general member.

In my free time, I love exploring beautiful Seattle and taking occasional trips outside of the U.S. Most of my free time is committed to visit various art museums, eating my way through any city, running, and doing everything with of my friends!!

Proudest Moment: As a sophomore, I worked as a member of the field crew that recovered the Tufts-Love Tyrannosaurus rex for the Burke Museum.

Thesis: Comparative osteohistology of extant small-bodied mammals with implications for understanding the growth dynamics of Mesozoic mammals

I came to UW as a transfer from Seattle Central Community College. Since becoming a Husky, I've co-authored three papers, mentored dozens of students, and made life-long friendships. While pursuing my degree, I worked as the lab manager for Dr. Gregory Wilson and studied the evolutionary dynamics of mammals across the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction boundary. As a member of the Wilson lab, I spent the last three summers in Montana collecting fossils for the Hell Creek Project and volunteering with the DIG Field School to give K-12 teachers hands-on experiences in geoscience. In the fall, I will continue as manager of the Wilson lab while pursuing a graduate position in paleobiological studies.

Proudest Moment: My second-to-last quarter here at UW, I wrote a paper in Jeffery Knight's honors seminar about Shakespeare's so-called "horse sonnets." I have always struggled with research papers, and I never felt like I could read or understand Shakespeare. This turned into the first research paper I felt came fully, loudly, and entirely from own voice, and it was also the first time I realized, after a quarter of careful study, I could read Shakespeare. I have never felt such pride over a research paper before, and since writing it, I have felt like an entire realm of writing has opened up to me.

Thesis: Plathology: Plath, a Piece in the Puzzle of American Women’s Poetry Tradition

rileygraceborden@aol.com

Hello all! My name is Riley Grace, and after graduating with my two year degree at Skagit Valley Community College, I have been at the UW now for two wonderful, challenging, jam-packed years. Where do I begin to describe this journey? I think I must have told 50 people during my first few weeks at UW how ridiculously joyful I felt every morning to wake up as a student at this university. I had spent months prior researching clubs and groups at UW and planning how I would use every second of my two years. The opportunities at UW ended up being as endless and wide as I hoped and planned for. Now, multiple clubs tried and joined, new people met and befriended, final papers and exams completed later, I feel just as fortunate and thankful. From the professors who dedicated hours to the development of my writing and voice, to engaging classes, to a consciously diverse curriculum, I have most positively been shaped by my experiences as an English major, and I extend my thanks to every individual in the department and across the humanities who made my experience possible. Post graduation, I am looking forward to spending my next three years at UW's law school!

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest moments at UW will be coming up soon, when I submit my full-length thesis for the English Honors program!

My Website

After starting at UW as an intended biology major, my plan was to become a physical therapist for dancers. By my junior year, I discovered that while I found my science courses to be fascinating, my true passions were in the disciplines of English, communication and dance. Working closely with outstanding faculty in the English Honors program this year has been an incredible experience for me. I have grown immensely as both a reader and a writer as a result of this program. In the future, I hope to continue developing my strengths as a reader, writer and storyteller, in the hope of sharing those passions with others.

Proudest Moment: Getting accepted into the Honors Program and having my thesis approved.

Thesis: Upon the Pyre - The Fiery Funerary Practices of Vientiane, Laos

teshal@uw.edu

I am the mother of a UW graduate and a no-eyed cat, a nurturer of plant life, and an enthusiastic cook. As a late bloomer in the world of education, previous episodes of my existence included working at Pike Place Market, cooking in New Orleans, and as a professional hairstylist in Seattle. The anthropology honors program was an incredibly fulfilling experience for me as it allowed me the independence and freedom to focus my research on an area of personal interest. I am passionate about human rights, politics, history, culture, and all of these as they are concentrated in Southeast Asia. I am grateful for the education that I have received from the University of Washington which will equip me to work in fields related to these passions and I am very excited to continue in the Master's program here and to see what lies beyond.

Proudest Moment: Completing my thesis and graduating with honors

Thesis: An Evaluation of an Automatically Generated Grammar of Ik

I am most interested in studying computational linguistics and historical linguistics. I found linguistics accidentally when I decided to take an intro course as an elective in my first-year year. I realized I liked it so much that I switched majors the next quarter. I am also interested in history, astronomy, evolution and computer science. I got to study abroad in Rome this past year and it was one of my favorite experiences at UW. After graduation, I am looking forward to returning to UW for a master's program in computational linguistics.

Proudest Moment: Working with my mentors and Principal Investigator on a scientific project and gaining hands on skills and experiences in biochemical research.

Thesis: Insights into the N-Terminal Region IXI Motif Binding Interactions of HSPB5

My experiences as a biochemistry major and in teaching Chem 142 students in quiz sections as part of STEM-Dawgs led me to appreciate the fact that knowledge must be shared and taught well to promote understanding. As president and founder of PreMedsUnited at UW, I built a community of pre-health students that support and motivate one for success. As a future physician, I aspire to continue my teaching and mentoring pursuits in medical school and beyond.

Some words of wisdom: Stay steadfast in your dreams and you will achieve them. Don’t perceive setbacks as failures, rather they are a part of your journey. You can’t have success without failure. Be sure to make the most out of your education, whether that is participating in extracurricular activities, tutoring students, or getting to know your professors during office hours. After all, getting an education is more than just reading books and taking exams, it is getting to know your colleagues and future co-workers to become the next generation of leaders and changemakers in your communities and for the world.

My interests include studying the Arabic language and cooking and baking a lot of different Middle Eastern food. I also love to travel, and a place I’ll never forget is visiting the ancient city of Babylon in Iraq during the Summer of 2019 (and yes, it was excruciatingly hot!).

Proudest Moment: Seeing the public release of the Washington Legislative Explorer, a database project that was the culmination of more than a year of hard (and often arduous) work.

Thesis: Judicial Prescience: How Judges Incorporate Expectations in Grants for Certiorari

My Website

When I got to UW, I was going to be attending my third college; after receiving an A.S. from North Idaho College and transferring from the University of Oklahoma, my curiosity always got the better of me and I could never settle on a field. Nonetheless, I was determined and the faculty, resources, and opportunities at UW allowed me to grow into my passion. Over the last three years, I was able to complete a research fellowship, the political science honors program, write two independent research papers, and produce a web database to help citizens educate themselves on the activities of the Washington state legislature. Even more fulfilling are the bonds to friends, faculty, and a community of scholars.

I am taking my next step in the fall as I start a Ph.D. in Politics at Princeton, where I was honored with a Centennial Fellowship. To my friends, family, professors, and all those who supported me -- thank you and Go Dawgs!

Proudest Moment: The moment I finally turned in my English thesis!

Thesis: Imaginary Equality, Romance, and Sex: Teenage Girls and Boys’ Love Literature in China

shirley.b.ouyang@gmail.com

I am an international student from Changsha, China. I triple majored in English, Math, and Philosophy. UW not only offers a great environment for learning and research but also many many many other opportunities. I love to see the world and understand the world from different perspectives, so I am very grateful for the wonderful study abroad opportunities at UW, allowing me to study abroad four times--to England, Italy, Spain, and Ecuador. In the future, I will continue to get to know and to embrace the diversities and differences that make our world complex and colorful.

Proudest Moment: Stepping out of my comfort zone and completing the honors program in the Department of History

Thesis: Syngman Rhee, The April Revolution and American Foreign Policy in South Korea

During my time at UW, I took the time to explore subject areas which I had not previously considered studying. I also had the opportunity to study abroad twice and participate in other great programs like the C21 Externship program, all of which have provided me with amazing memories and experiences. It's hard to believe that after graduating high school with the intention of pursuing a STEM or music performance degree, I will soon be completing my undergraduate degree with honors in history. The honors program gave me incredible practice in research which I plan to improve upon in graduate school after a couple years of continued exploration and learning on my own.

Proudest Moment: Getting the opportunity to exhibit my art work at the UW Tower, the Husky Union Building, and the UW Medical Center in Winter 2019

Thesis: Art Heaux - a one-off 20-page publication on character study, emotion, and underlying themes of past and present

My Website

I spent my 4 years at UW studying technology and global media in the Department of Communication as well as Photo/Media in the School of Art, where I was a part of the 2019-2020 Honors cohort. Off campus, I was a member of Chi Omega sorority, where I served as the Alumni Relations Coordinator for 2 years. When I wasn’t in the art building working on my next project, I was a volunteer with ASUW A+E for 2 years where I was a committee lead for Spring Show 2019, and I got the opportunity to be a Game Day Recruiting Intern for Husky Football during the 2018-2019 season. My passions currently lie in bringing ideas to life, creating memorable live experiences for audiences, and making safe and equal spaces for people in the various sectors of the entertainment industry, regardless of race or gender identity.

Proudest Moment: Making my parents proud has always been one of my life goals. And I am glad that I made it today!

Thesis: Understanding the Long-term Tidal Modulation on Methane Bubble Emission at Southern Hydrate Ridge using Acoustics

As a first-generation Malaysian student, I consider myself a privileged one to be given the opportunity to come this far to pursue my bachelor's degree. My UW experience was an adventure, from performing on stage as an actor and dancer, to co-leading FIUTS CulturalFest, the largest cultural event on campus, to field experiences in the mountains and the ocean, and finally indulging in mentoring and doing research. These community building, leadership, field and research experiences have made me who I am today. I have forged so many international friendships and learned so much from stories coming from different parts of the world. Looking forward, I will further pursue my passion for marine geology, specifically in the energy field. I will also continue to challenge myself with new perspectives and keep growing with the hope to contribute to the world one day.

Proudest Moment: I felt proud when I first saw my paintings hung on the walls of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery

Thesis: Moments of Joy

My Website alissa.mjb@gmail.com

Bio
Alissa was born and raised in the forest of Monroe WA, and now resides in Seattle WA. She was homeschooled which gave her much time to explore her interests in the arts through dancing, drawing and music. The joy, movement, and colors of nature all show themselves in her art practice. She attended Bellevue college then took an eight-year hiatus to work and travel. Throughout her life she has traveled to eight different countries which have caused her to grow in empathy towards others and gather inspiration that have thus informed her work.
She then attended the University of Washington and concentrated in painting and Drawing. Because of her wide range of interests, she calls herself an interdisciplinary artist with a current emphasis on oil painting, music production/performance, and mixed-media digital art. Her interest lies in depicting the moments of joy and hope found in the simple, overlooked moments, often utilizing the human figure and portraits in the work.

Artist Statement
The word Honesty has been a theme in the artwork that has been produced during my time at the University of Washington. In my current paintings I strive to embody and highlight the glimmers of hope found during these long months of covid lockdown. It is an intimate view of moments of calm and joy and the dark and often soul-crushing loneliness that accompanies that. The ultimate hope in my work is that it would be an encouragement to the viewer by reminding them that they are not alone in their experiences, and to inspire the viewer to have hope. I accomplish this through not only the subject but also through depictions of color, movement and brushstrokes that harken to freedom.
Soon I hope to experiment with different mediums such as pen and ink, gauche and watercolor. I also plan to dive deeper into the world of art and movement via 2D digital and analog animation and find ways to incorporate that with my other passion of music composition and video production.

Proudest Moment: Building complicated ML models (after days of debugging) that benefit and potentially save human health

Thesis: A Take on Generalized Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: Effects of Residency Away From Work on Income Inequality

kangb6187@gmail.com

UW wasn't the highest ranking school I was admitted to. Some told me that I was making a huge mistake and I will come to regret it someday, but something that I can't really express pushed me to come to UW. Now that I'm done, I can tell what that "something" was: Cooking, friends, all-nighters, research, mentorships, bowling, hiking, internships, coffee chats, cold emails, stressing, drinking, binge-watch, TA-ing, free food, clubs, machine learning, and much much more.

I don't regret a single bit coming to UW. I'm finishing strong and all the experiences stay with me forever.

Proudest Moment: Graduating with departmental honors

Thesis: The Power of Microcelebrities: Difference in Perceived Credibility Between Male and Female Microcelebrities and Traditional Celebrities

brianchan28ph@gmail.com

If someone were to ask me in 2016 where I would be in 2018, the answer would probably be an underwhelming “school I guess”.
Fast forward two years, and I’m delighted to say I'm graduating from one of the best public universities in the nation with honors one year ahead of schedule, headed to graduate school for a master's degree in communication.
An immigrant from Hong Kong, I moved to Washington state at age 15. My broken English back then meant I could barely speak for myself, and with a transferred GPA of 1.4, my grades did not speak highly of me either. After a few years of adapting to a vastly different culture and environment, I was miraculously admitted to the University of Washington.
Regardless of how reassuring the admission sounded, hurdles were still present as I fought through dyslexia. Through my endeavor to excel in school, help from a number of marvelous professors, and an urge to do research, I was introduced to the Department of Communication's honors program. For the first time, I acquired a multitude of research methods, and was exposed to literature of various disciplines and the depth and breadth of knowledge research brings to the world.
Unlike most other jobs, doing research means every bit of your time committed is a learning opportunity. Whether it be reviewing literature or analyzing data, there is is something valuable in every step of the way, and by becoming a researcher anyone can discover or reveal a piece of knowledge no one has ever figured out before.
Being in the Department of Communication’s honors program is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life thus far, hence I encourage everyone to join one at the University of Washington if possible. It has changed my life forever and I regret nothing. The future is brighter than ever because of research.

Proudest Moment: Presenting my research on drug policy at the ACLU of Washington

Thesis: Framing "Safe" Drug Use: King County's Debate Over Supervised Consumption Sites

raman.medha@gmail.com

I've always been passionate about social justice. Growing up in an immigrant family centered in patriarchal norms and values, I first grew interested in the world of social justice as an advocate for women's rights. Since then, my interests have broadened to encompass a variety of social justice issues from criminal justice reform to educational inequality.

I've focused my work at UW on these issues, both inside the classroom and outside. Through my courses, I've learned about institutional racism, the prison-industrial complex, sexual assault and the law, and immigration policy and reform. I've taken this knowledge and applied it to my work outside UW, interning with the US Department of Labor Women's Bureau, the ACLU of Washington, and Pramila for Congress. I've also worked as a teaching assistant and mentor for low-income and first generation high school students in South King County with UW Dream Project, a volunteer at the Washington Corrections Center for Women with the Incarcerated Mothers Advocacy Project, and a Resident Adviser on campus.

After graduation, I plan to continue my work promoting social justice as a Program Coordinator for the UW School of Social Work.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW was receiving the Guthrie Prize for the best empirical paper

Thesis: Effectiveness of a Transdiagnostic Evidence-Based Treatment on Improving Child Clinical Outcomes in Washington State Community Mental Health

cjrn1@live.com

I am a first-generation student that is originally from Puerto Rico who loves to go out dancing. Since my father is in the military, I have moved all around the world and had the opportunity to interact with a variety of individuals from different cultural backgrounds. This has helped me understand and communicate with individuals more readily and has given me a fair amount of opportunities that I would not have had otherwise. I am passionate about both the research and clinical sides of psychology and hope to eventually receive my Ph.D. in child clinical psychology.

Proudest Moment: As a state need grant recipient myself, I am most proud of the passing of HB 2158, which secures funding to exempt students with families that make under 50K from paying tuition in any higher education institution in the state. It is the first successful free college tuition program of its kind and it makes me proud of the collective work we did to make this happen as Higher Ed advocates!!

Thesis: Neoliberalism: An ineffective Shorthand

The relationships CHID (Comparative History of Ideas) allowed me to develop abroad while researching in Argentina and Sardinia launched me into the organizing work I have been involved in while at the UW. During college I could be found in every corner of campus as a Resident Advisor, tutoring for the Economics Board, meeting with the Dean on a college council, leading a CHID focus group, mentoring students in UWL, and organizing lobbying related activities to advocate for student issues at the State Legislature. Outside of campus, I sought to apply the perspective I'd gained from economics and critical theory from the social justice lens of CHID into my professional development, the most formative of which was organizing an international conference for a nonprofit focused on bilateral trade between Africa and the Pacific Northwest. The relationships I formed at this nonprofit, and with the African immigrant community more broadly in Seattle, led me to help execute a new leadership conference called Africa Now that has since been a large annual event on the UW's campus. Originally inspired by womxn of color visionary and speculative fiction authors, I have sought to create the world I want on my small scale as I know that it will reflect on the larger world and its functioning. From this, I know that the work the world needs to be able to respond to today's global challenges would be severely limited without visionary work and relationship building across difference.

Proudest Moment: This past winter I had the opportunity of organizing Introduce a Girl to Renewable Energy as the Outreach Director of Women in Chemical Engineering. 193 girls showed up for an afternoon of hands-on instructional demos provided by UW STEM organizations

Thesis: Establishing a Method for the Quantification of Poly-ethylene Glycol Surface Density

evanepst@gmail.com

Hi! My name is Evan and I use he/him pronouns.

I moved to Seattle from Boston to attend UW. It's true what they say... west coast, best coast. Since moving here, I've discovered a love of the outdoors: hiking, camping and skiing on REAL mountains. I made some amazing friends, both in and out of Honors. But maybe most importantly, I found a direction.

I committed to Chemical Engineering in Sophomore year without any idea about what Chemical Engineering was. As researcher in the Nance Lab, a ChemE lab which engineers nanoparticles for use in the brain, I discovered a passion for applying my education and abilities to challenges facing pharmaceutical research. I took this new passion and interned for Just Biotherapeutics, working to overcome the limitations viscosity imposes on protein-based therapeutics. I hope to continue this work for years to come.

Proudest Moment: The best moment was getting into my major, the Architecture school became a second home!

Thesis: Soak in the Rain: Designing for Our Climate by Engaging the Senses

Four years seemed to go by in four seconds. Over the past several years I have enjoyed staying involved at UW. I started my first-year and sophomore year in leadership for HFS, participating in Hall Council and eventually the Residential Programming Board. After getting into my major I participated in the student led groups, AIAS, The CBE Student Council, Happy Hour Committee, and ASUW Achitectural Commission Board. I met life long friends in my architecture studios and learned a lot within my design classes. In 2019 I was able to be apart of the Furniture Design studio and entered my finished piece in the Interior Designers of Idaho Chair Affair (a furniture competition for students and professionals in Boise) and won Best Functional Design. I also was able to do independent research throughout 2019 and presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. To finish off my time at UW I was recently awarded along with another classmate the "Faculty Award for Scholarship and Leadership". It was a long journey but I couldn't have done it without the support of friends, my professors and advisors, family, and coffee.

Proudest Moment: Making lifelong friends, and making lifelong memories with them.

My Website kurt3903@gmail.com

I came to UW in 2016 with the intent to become a nuclear physicist. It was a big change for me, not only transitioning from high school, but also to live in the city and take care of myself independently. I made many new friends and had the best roommates I could have hoped for here at UW! I also had a great part-time job working at Bay Laurel Catering, which was a very unique and rewarding experience. I got to participate in undergraduate research in the UW Quantum Ion Computing Group, working alongside a fun and talented group to put my physics skills to work.
The Physics Departmental Honors program showed me several new and exciting research applications in modern physics. I got to study several experiments in great detail, which not only improved my understanding of the physics involved in these studies, but gave me a greater appreciation for the applications of physics and the knowledge I was gaining.
Life at UW has certainly opened up my eyes to trying out new experiences and opportunities - I now see the wide variety of possible careers and higher education that await me as a physics graduate. While I am considering graduate school in my future, I want to get a job where I can apply my physics knowledge and see what fields I want to pursue in detail. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me and my fellow graduates!

Proudest Moment: I am proud to have served as the ASUW Pacific Islander Student Commission Director from 2016-2017 and to have been named a Husky 100.

Thesis: Precarious Histories: Legacy Workers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

I am the child of Filipino migrant contract workers to the CNMI and embody the culmination of my parents' sacrifices. My Husky Experience gave me a platform to find empowerment in my identity as a queer Filipinx born in the Northern Mariana Islands through opportunities that enabled me to apply my own story and my family's story in leadership and academia. My goal is to serve as an attorney for the people of the Marianas, especially migrant workers and Pacific Islanders marginalized by U.S. federal law and policies.

Proudest Moment: I participated in the UW Research Symposium, and shared great ideas and novel insights there.

Thesis: Bilingual Code-Switching and Semantic Ambiguity Resolution

The capacity and uniqueness of the human brain have always been the field that intrigues me. Four years in UW I've developed great interest and passion in human executive function, especially language and other cognitive processing. I've brought my passion in psycholinguistics into my language learning, and done research in combining cognitive psychology with human linguistic behavior. After graduation I'll continue to pursue my research interests.

Proudest Moment: Securing a 6-month supply chain internship with Unilever thanks to my class and research experiences.

I came to UW from the Sacramento, CA area and I am graduating with a degree in Industrial Engineering. I have had the opportunity to learn from some great professors, perform research, and work for several companies. Since my sophomore year, I have been working on a team in the ISE department doing research for the U.S. Navy. Through this research, we have built a statistical tool that predicts part obsolescence for parts in naval ship, airplane, and other systems. I am proud knowing that the research we performed will be used on a daily basis by the Navy. Beginning last summer and continuing through the Fall 2019 quarter, I completed a 6-month supply chain co-op for Unilever at its Lipton tea factory in Suffolk, VA. I worked on many interesting projects and learned a lot through this experience.

Being an out-of-state student, I will miss all of the amazing friends I met throughout my time at UW. One of my favorite UW memories was watching the Dawgs play in the Rose Bowl. In the fall, I will be pursuing my Master's degree in Supply Chain Engineering at Georgia Tech.

Proudest Moment: Being selected to represent the UW at the Emory Global Health Case Competition in Atlanta, GA

maxrumaner@gmail.com

Born in San Francisco, raised in Portland, OR, and now living in Seattle, I am currently attending the University of Washington, set to graduate with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. I am passionate about engineering and design with the goal to enter the biotech industry as a product development engineer. My research and work experiences have given me the incredible opportunity to see two sides of product development and develop extensive skills and knowledge of both. I am eager to use my abilities to make an impact on an engineering team and improve lives around the world.