Honors Grad Profiles

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: One of my proudest moments has been when I represented UW at an international conference and had the opportunity to sharing my research.

Thesis: Winter under-ice patterns of greenhouse gases in lakes of interior Alaska

I have had moments of great joy in the last four years of UW. Not all my moments were as joyful as others but there were certain parts of my UW life that kept my spirits high against the coursework and winter weather of UW. Working in David Butman's lab pushed me out of multiple comfort zones and as a result gave me one of the most steady and consistent parts of my UW career. I have to thank UW Women's Rugby for giving me a community which turned into forever friends and best roommates. Lastly, I loved all of my ESRM classes and I have treasured this experience that started with an interest and grew into a passion making me not only a scientist but more of a steward of the Earth.

Proudest Moment: Being selected as a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship.

Thesis: Associations between depression, traumatic brain injury, and cognitively-defined late-onset Alzheimer clinical syndrome subgroups

I intend to pursue a career in research and medicine. Following graduation, I am moving to Boston to work as a research associate at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, where I will study functional cancer genomics.
Outside of school/work, my favorite hobbies are running, reading, and playing the piano.

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: 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: 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 freshman 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 freshman, 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 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: 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: My proudest moment was when I got to present my research at an international conference in Vancouver! Later that year, I also got to publish my research in an academic peer-reviewed journal, which was very rewarding.

Thesis: Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Zebrafish Cone Photoreceptors

Daniel Brock is a graduating senior majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology. Daniel works in the Brockerhoff lab studying circadian rhythm and stress responses in the mitochondria of cone cells in the zebrafish retina. After graduation, Daniel is going to spend 2 years at the NIH in the lab of Dr. Rosandra Kaplan, researching genetically engineered myeloid cells to make the immune system better at fighting metastatic cancer. Eventually, Daniel plans on becoming a physician scientist. In his spare time, Daniel enjoys photography, video games, and watching movies.

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: 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 freshman. 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: One of my proudest moments was when I was awarded the SAFS Faculty Merit Award

Thesis: Zebrafish embryo screening to evaluate the effective removal of toxics from urban stormwater runoff using novel bioretention methods

I grew up with my two brothers and little sister in the small city of Herriman, UT where I spent my time swimming, hiking, playing soccer, riding horses, and playing the saxophone. Since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to move away to the ocean. At first, I thought that meant going to college in California but life brought me to the University of Washington, and I am so glad it did. I have loved my time at the UW. I have experienced some truly exceptional opportunities including a summer in Alaska studying salmon and a quarter at Friday Harbor collecting data from research boats and studying skates. Attending a school with 47,000+ students can be difficult but I was lucky to find community within the College of the Environment where I represented as a student ambassador for a couple of years. I am excited to jump into the next stage of my life where I hope to apply my degree in a career oriented toward environmental education and outreach to work for a sustainable future for all.

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: Gaining so many great mentors in various aspects whether its professionally, academically, or life in general.

Thesis: Assessing reliance on Pacific salmon as a food source for brown bears (Ursus arctos)

hyejooro97@gmail.com

I am really grateful to have various research experiences through my time at UW. I was able to help with a variety of different grad student projects, and work on my own research as well. Because of research, I've spent a lot of hours in a lab or in front of a computer screen, but what I love most about aquatic sciences are the times spent out in the field.
After spending a good chunk of my life dedicated to school, I am looking forward to seeing what's next in this upcoming chapter of life, and I hope it includes time to travel/explore.

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 freshman 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: 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: Organizing and teaching a six week intensive lab internship program for four local underprivileged high school students!

Thesis: How Does the Cell Polarity Protein Crumbs Regulate Tube Formation in Drosophila Melanogaster Egg Chambers?

sydneybowker@comcast.net

Hey, I'm Syd and I'm graduating with a BS in Biochemistry with departmental honors! I worked as a researcher in Genome Science's Berg Lab for all four years of college. I'm hoping to pursue a career in clinical research coordination after graduation. During my time at UW I made a some great friends and learned a lot about myself and my interests. I am proud to be a first generation student, and glad to be graduating in Seattle, the city I grew up in.
With huge thanks to my family and friends who have supported me throughout my life, and especially over the last four years.

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: I have always dreamed of going to veterinary school, and I knew that with enough hard work I’d make it there. What I did not yet know was the amazing community of people I would surround myself with in my time at UW who helped me reach my goals and celebrated my success by my side.

The opportunities I’ve been given as a UW student have shaped me into the person I am today, and continue to push me forward toward achieving my goals. Through my sorority, I have discovered my strengths as a leader and the power of teamwork. Through the UW Pre-Vet Society, I built connections that helped me gain first vet assistant job, guided me through the vet school application process, and brought me new friends. Academically, several professors on this campus pushed my thinking and challenged me in ways I didn’t expect, and I am better for it. I am fortunate enough to have received several scholarships that made it possible for me to attend UW while saving for veterinary school which I’ll be starting this fall.

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: Conducting an original research project and writing a thesis for the Sociology Honors Program

Thesis: Race and Emerging Adulthood: Looking at Mental Health and Racial Identity Within a College Context

stephanievanha@gmail.com

As a Sociology major, not only did I learn important theories and social issues that pertain to all of us as human beings, but I understood the notion of simply being a human. I learned that in a capitalistic world in which we are all pressured to create, produce, and be hurried along, that it is important to empathize, care, and be still in the midst of all that occurs around us. Through my time at UW, I have grown deeply as a human and a scholar. I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the 2018-2019 Sociology Honors Cohort, conduct an original research project that focuses on my academic interests, and present my research at multiple symposiums and conferences. I was a part of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center's CourtWatch program, which focuses on helping victims of sexual violence obtain access to justice within court systems. Finally, I made incredible lifelong connections with classmates, faculty members, and many other individuals through my UW experience. I look forward to implementing my passion for research and social science through further education and career opportunities and do all that I can to positively contribute to the world that we live in.

Proudest Moment: I'd have to say my proudest moment at UW was getting into the English department Honors program and fulfilling one of my academic goals. Being able to learn and work with the faculty and my peers has been amazing, and I literally could not have picked a better time to be in an Honors cohort focusing on temporality and human extinction.

Thesis: In the Wreckage of Humanity: Ruins, Agency, and the Art of Post-Apocalyptic Video Games

My experience at the University of Washington has been defined by my commitment to literary scholarship and health care, as well as the personal empowerment I've felt in pursuing both English literature and STEM. This has all set me on my path towards becoming a physician, (hooray for studying for the MCAT soon!), and I'm hoping to keep up my writing as much as possible in the future. My love for creative writing and English has only grown in the English Honors program, and I can't be more excited for what's next.

I'm beyond grateful for the friendships I've made during my undergrad, and for everything I've been able to learn. Cheers to four years, UW.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: When I first learned that my little brother, Jack would be the fourth sibling in my family to attend the University of Washington and to have that opportunity to once again study together at the same school!

Thesis: E-cigarettes in the Greek Community: Identity, Health Perceptions, and a Vaping Culture

I am so grateful for my time at the University of Washington. I have met some of the most incredibly, inspiring individuals, and I am honored to have studied alongside them. When I first came to the University of Washington, I was unsure of my path—I just knew that at end of the day that I wanted to help people. After a few quarters, this eventually led me to my first medical anthropology course: Anthropology and International Health, which guided me to my passion of studying health care. Since then, I have been lucky to have been able to take courses that have explored the social, cultural, and biological factors that have influenced health and the systems related to it and showed me a future career in working towards creating greater access to healthcare, a human right. Moreover, these courses inspired me to apply for departmental honors, allowing me to conduct independent research studying the impact of e-cigarettes in the Greek Community.

I was inspired to study French by recommendation from a professor. Studying French has been one of the most difficult and rewarding endeavors of my undergraduate career. For the first time, I was forced to contend with several of my own shortcomings as a student and challenged me to learn new studying methods. Through this department, I was provided the opportunity to study abroad in Paris and further develop my linguistic skills. I am so grateful for the professors and students from that department who have continually supported me and helped me grow to be a better student and person.

Outside of my coursework, I was fortunate to become involved early on at the University. I joined a sorority and made life-long friends. I gained valuable exposure working as a Laboratory Assistant for Pallanck Lab in Genome Sciences. I worked as a Research Assistant for Professor Alex Hill in a biological anthropology project. I interned at the Borgen Project and helped advocate for poverty-reduction legislation. I also volunteered at the East African Community Services and worked with refugee families helping tutor their children.

These experiences in and out of the classroom have helped shape my perspective on life. I hope to one day help create a better, more equitable world. After graduation, I will begin working as research associate studying health disparities in lung cancer screenings and access in the Pacific Northwest. Eventually, I plan to go to graduate school for Public Health to receive a Master’s and hopefully a Ph.D. in Health Services.

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: 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: Playing for the University of Washington ice hockey team for 4 years

Thesis: Survival Under Foreign Pressure: How Authoritarian Regimes React To International Sanctions

sm@simonmachalek.com

What an interesting journey it has been. As an international student, I came to University of Washington by myself across half of the world in order to pursue my dreams and advance in my career. Now that I am done with my studies here, I cannot describe how interesting and how beneficial was my time in Seattle.

All 4 years shaped who I am today, but the most defining experience was definitely the Honors program, through which I had the time and opportunity to work with amazing people and really focus on what interests me the most. The resulting thesis, which examines how authoritarians react to international sanctions and how they cope with the effects, has revealed to me what are my true passions and what I want to focus on in the future. To me, this is priceless and I am grateful for the opportunity I was given.

Although it feels unreal, it's time to leave Seattle and move on to the next chapter. In Fall I will begin studies at the Georgetown University, where I will pursue a master's degree in Security Studies. I cannot wait to continue in my path forward.

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest moments at UW was receiving the Mary Gates Research Scholarship!

Thesis: Child-Nature Interaction in a Hong Kong Nature Preschool Program: An Interaction Pattern Approach

lingwaiamberlam@gmail.com

I've always been passionate about child development and education.

Throughout my time at UW, I was a researcher at the Human Interaction with Nature and Technological System Lab (the HINTS lab) and completed my thesis under Dr. Kahn's supervision. I was also an intern at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital in the Psychiatry and Developmental Assessment Center. In addition, I also served as an infant-toddler teacher assistant at the Haring Center - Experimental Education Unit (EEU) at UW, which promotes inclusive education and facilitates understanding between children with and without disabilities.

I would like to thank everyone who has been a part of my journey here at UW!

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: 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: 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: 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: One of my proudest moments at UW was receiving an offer to be a Post-Bachelor Fellow at the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). This program will enable me in the next few years to continue my work in global health research and pursue a fully-funded MPH at UW.

During my time at UW, I was able to pursue a double degree in Public Health-Global Health and Economics. By being able to take courses in both these majors, I was able to explore my interests in global health economics and the crucial intersection between financial stability and health. As an undergraduate, I was able to participate in a study abroad program through the School for International Training (SIT) in India focusing on public health, gender equality, and community-based initiatives. For the past year, I was an Undergraduate Research Assistant on the Cost Effectiveness team at the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), where I have also accepted a Post-Bachelor Fellowship.

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: 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: Holding a baby octopus caught in a bottom trawl during a research cruise on the RV Rachel Carson!

Thesis: The Effects of Increased Salinity on the Behavior and Survival of Juvenile Dungeness Crab (Cancer magister): Implications for the Control of Burrowing Shrimp in Willapa Bay, Washington

As a SAFS major, you might guess I love just about anything that has to do with water or the things that live in in, and you would be correct! Some of my favorite activities include swimming, snorkeling, SCUBA diving, paddle boarding, fishing, hiking, and spending time outdoors with my family and friends. In my free time, I also love to read, ride horses, dance, hang out with my pets, cook, and bake.

I worked throughout my time at UW at the Burke Museum Fish Collection, Biology Department Field Trip Program, and the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team. With these organizations I was able to gain valuable experience and connections, and still managed to maintain a high GPA and consistently receive awards and recognition from my School and College.

I am also a first generation college student, and as the first in my family to graduate from a University, I am especially proud to say that I was able to fully fund my higher education with the help of contributions from generous scholarship donors. I am so thankful to all those who have supported me on my pursuit for education, and will forever treasure my UW family and memories!

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: Receiving the email announcing that I'd been granted the Mary Gates Research Scholarship!

Thesis: 'Can I Count on You?' Infants' Expectations of Prosocial Behavior Across Contexts

My Website aarti.bodas@gmail.com

Four years ago as a freshman, I could have never imagined how fulfilling my experience at the UW would be. I never would have guessed that I'd get to do Developmental Psychology research involving infants, that I'd win a research scholarship or that I'd end up getting a full ride to grad school! And above all else, I never imagined having as strong of a support network as I do, because of which I was able to accomplish so many things. The most important lesson that I learned during my time at the UW was to make the most of every experience, and in doing so to be persistent and ambitious, and that is what I carry with me moving forward.

Proudest Moment: Completing my Honors Thesis

Thesis: The Road to the Ballot Box: A discussion of how quality of infrastructure effects elections

bkrben@gmail.com

I'm a jazz bassist. I have substantially lost 70+ pounds since the end of my freshmen year. I love public transportation. I currently am heading towards a career in public policy: I'm an admitted student to the Evans School of Public Policy and I work for the Ruckelshaus Center for Public Policy.

Proudest Moment: I survived four years of college with five hours of sleep per day on average.

I am a hardcore undergraduate researcher interested in interbacterial and host-microbiome interactions. After I finish my B.S. in both Microbiology and Biology, I will attend the Ph.D. program in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University in Fall, 2019.

Proudest Moment: Being a member of the Washington Hyperloop team

sev.sando@gmail.com

When I moved to Seattle from Canada in my senior year of high school, I didn't know what an SAT was, I didn't know which universities were good, and I was desperate to develop a new social group and learn how to navigate this new country of mine. All I did know was that I wanted to learn about airplanes.

I'll be honest, after four years of engineering school I am STILL blown away by airplanes. HOW DO THESE THINGS EVEN FLY?! I joined this department to uncover the mystery of flight and I am coming out even more intrigued, and even more enthused. I have worked in the Quantitative Flow Visualization lab for two years, run wind tunnel tests, built a rocket for the Hyperloop team, and studied aviation in France one summer. I think I like planes more than the average bear...

Technical stuff aside, one of the things I have enjoyed most about my time at UW has been sharing my experiences with younger students. I have been a College of Engineering Peer Mentor, and I have organized and participated in countless elementary school science fairs as the Outreach Coordinator for UW's chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This major and this department are rooted in passion, and I found profound satisfaction in sharing that passion with the next generation of engineers.

While I have experienced some incredible things in my four years here, the most valuable things I gained were the outstanding friends I met. I learned a deep appreciation for putting myself in a positive and supportive environment, and these lifelong friends I met who create that for me are worth more than any degree.

I grew and learned immeasurably at UW, and I am incredibly appreciative for my time here. It has prepared me for an exciting future and I can't wait for what is to come.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment was getting the opportunity to attend UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy as a Law Fellow through the Public Policy and International Affairs Program

Thesis: School To Prison Pipeline

imanm1998@gmail.com

I am a first-generation college student and the daughter to Ethiopian immigrants. My passion for choosing this path of education is to one day shape Public Policy around issues of bias in our criminal justice system, more specifically in their use of punishment. I am passionate about working to dismantle mass incarceration because of how it is disproportionately affecting Black people and all people of color. My honor’s thesis gave me a deeper understanding of the School-to-Prison pipeline and has allowed me to determine how I want to create in the world after my time at the University of Washington. I plan on pursuing a Master’s in public policy with a focus on criminal justice and education to create systemic change and equity to these issues.

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: The proudest moment is being awarded the Mary Gates Scholarship for my research conducted at UW.

Thesis: A Biodegradable, Multifunctional Hydrogel as a Vascular Graft Sealant

My professional interests are studying physiology and biochemistry and trying to engineer low cost, reasonable, and effective solutions to problems that arise in the human body such that they can be treated successfully. This passion will hopefully lead me towards a career in medicine where I hope to contribute towards revolutionizing the way medicine is practiced. Participating in a translational research project for 3 years has sparked my interest in the field of research and how it is related to medicine. During my spare time I am interested in playing and watching basketball, cooking, and exercising.

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: One of my proudest moments at UW was getting into honors, and fulfilling one of my most important longterm academic goals. Getting to interact with and learn from my History Honors cohort was one of the most exciting experiences of my college career, and I am extremely grateful for every minute of it.

Thesis: Wives, Daughters, and Rebels: Women’s Interactions With the Law and Society During the Triumviral Proscriptions

Over the course of my time at UW, I have been able to expand my horizons and be a part of so many wonderful organizations. This has all set me on the path to becoming a teacher, and I am excited to be starting my masters in teaching next year!

Proudest Moment: Getting invited to join Foster's Honors Program

My entire life I traveled the world with my circus family, and only in the last five years have I settled down. In this time, I have managed to participate in the Running Start program, thereby saving two years worth of time and tuition, and complete Foster's Honor's Program! Although prioritizing my studies has been well worth it, I think I'm ready to return to my roots and rejoin the artistic community. Except now I have the ability to both be on stage as well as run the business.

Proudest Moment: Being able to pull my grades and requirements together in 2 years to graduate with UW honors

I started my college education in Oregon where I first discovered traditional philosophy and political philosophy-- immediately falling in love. As I progressed in my studies, I felt unfulfilled, as philosophy often makes one feel. So I packed up my life and left to study in the heart of it all; Rome. While learning amongst some of the oldest structures of "modern" government, I was also able to travel around Europe visiting historical landmarks such as the Acropolis, Sachsenhausen, and the Sagrada Família. I visited 7 countries and saw everything Italy had to offer from the Northern mountains to the bright blue coast, and the rolling hills of Tuscany. Here, I decided I needed to be at a university that had like-minded people willing to seriously question the condition of the world my generation is inheriting. I found these people in my philosophy classes at the University of Washington. Being able to be surrounded by an environment where being a "nerd" is the status quo, I felt I didn't have to hide how much I cared about my studies anymore. Thus, over my short two years here I have been challenged and grown so much. After Trump was elected, I started an internship at Senator Patty Murray's office through UW which taught me the value of individual citizen's voices, local government, and grassroots organizations. In my academics at UW, I have learned so much from my peers and my professors as well as from myself. UW truly has fostered the academic environment I needed in my undergraduate career in order to introspectively reflect on how I want to be as a person.

Proudest Moment: Presenting my capstone research on compostable diapers at the Program on the Environment Capstone Symposium

k.jobe@outlook.com

My upbringing, of environmental education, skiing, and backpacking in the Pacific Northwest, fostered my goal to work toward a career in environmental policy to help ensure the environment as we know it will stay prime for adventure for all future generations. I’ve been an executive officer of Global Sustainability Initiatives, a College of the Environment Student Ambassador, and intern for Connect 3 — a nonprofit that partners with villages in Ethiopia and Peru to improve waste, water, and education practices.

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest moments while at UW was being accepted into the School of Nursing.

Thesis: Sleep in Hospitalized Patients (SHOP): Bedtime Routine in the Psychiatric and Behavioral Medicine Unit at Seattle Children's Hospital

In my time at UW, I was involved in Dance Marathon at the University of Washington. This on campus organization raises money for the Uncompensated Care Fund at Seattle Children's Hospital. This year we raised over $70,000! I also volunteered at UWMC for three years. In addition, I worked at UWMC as a Nursing Technician on the Medical/Oncology ICU. All of this experience tied into my passion for research and the design of my project!

Proudest Moment: Seizing the opportunity to work in a laboratory setting for all 12 quarters I attended the University of Washington.

Thank you mom I love you! My success wouldn't be possible without your unconditional love and support.

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: 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: 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: My proudest moment was receiving a study abroad scholarship to study in Canada through the Killam Fellowships Program.

My two passions in life are earth sciences and performing arts. I am so glad that I was able to pursue both at the University of Washington, majoring in Earth and Space Sciences with departmental honors and minoring in Dance. Throughout my years in college, I have received three scholarships, studied abroad for four months in London, Ontario, CA, and became involved in two research projects with the Earth and Space Sciences and Atmospheric department. I am proud to be graduating with departmental honors and cum laude.

Proudest Moment: Completing a research project and writing it up into a scientific paper!

Thesis: Differential Longitudinal Posterior Cingulate Cortex Connectivity Trajectories in Normal Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's disease

s-brlee@comcast.net

Apart from research, I enjoy long distance running and writing.

Proudest Moment: Participating in a Study Abroad program in León, Spain.

Thesis: The Communication of Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

I am 22 years old and ecstatic to have completed my undergraduate education. I will be moving on to put my Communication degree to work in the healthcare industry, starting in Olympia, WA. One of my main interests is driving a racecar all across Washington State, which I have been doing for over 12 years. I am thankful for my time at UW and proud to have completed a Thesis for my departmental honors study.

Proudest Moment: Graduating from the UW architectural design program

Thesis: Lighting Design for Health and Happiness in Nordic Architecture

My Website wqchua@uw.edu

Hello! I am Wen, and I am an architectural design student. I love pretty things, running, playing the violin and eating croissants.

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: 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 freshman 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: 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: 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: Seeing my friends with whom I transferred from community college graduate from the UW and continue to carve out their own path.

steiner.gen@gmail.com

Born in Boston, grew up in Austria, fell in love with music early on and eventually took an interest in chemical engineering. I enjoy long-distance running, lining up for archery sessions, hanging out for some Dungeons & Dragons, and am almost always down to learn a new skill. My time here at the UW, with its resources and research environment, allowed me to pursue many of these interests, and provided an education that I know has already had a lasting effect on my trajectory forward.

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: Overcoming my struggle with higher level math and acing it!

Thesis: Biosolids and Soil Carbon Sequestration in Forest Plantations

I am passionate about helping create and promote alternatives to pollutants and make environmentally healthy living practices common. Here at UW I have had the opportunity to take a diverse range of classes that has developed my interests and skills. I have also had the opportunity to learn about industrial pollution control and regulation through my internship at King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks with the Industrial Waste Team at the Wastewater Treatment Division. After this, I was able to do research on the carbon sequestration potential of biosolids, a product of wastewater treatment in King County. I hope to pursue a Master’s degree in Environmental Toxicology and Public Health/Administration.

Proudest Moment: I am proud that I used my time at UW to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis in Venezuela through my artwork, and had the freedom to explore a wide range of mediums finding ways to improve and innovate my work and its powerful message.

I started my path in the Arts in my country of origin, Venezuela, and I could not be more excited to finish my degree in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts at UW. Although Venezuela is no longer my home it is still my main source of inspiration. I am looking forward to use the skills I learned during my time at UW to keep creating meaningful art outside of the classroom.

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: 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: My best memories at UW come from spending time with outstanding, goofy, and vibrant individuals who not only motivated me to become better, but also to enjoy life once (or twice) in a while.

Thesis: Effect of SS-31 on the Sod1KO Model of Sarcopenia

My Website kevinanguyen2@gmail.com

Hello! I'm Kevin Nguyen. I'll be graduating with a degree in Physiology this year, and I enjoy drawing and painting in my free time.

It feels surreal to conclude my 4 years of undergrad at UW. I remember back to the beginning of high school when I first designated UW as my dream school like it was yesterday. So much has happened during my time here and I will carry the endless memories, relationships, and lessons with me as I continue along my own journey.

Some highlights from my undergraduate career include: working on an extensive research project in the Marcinek lab for almost 3 years; learning from and assisting patients in clinical settings every summer; and collaborating with rad individuals on the Neurobiology Club officer board. And while STEM classes were something else, I'll give some credit to the endless and toiling hours of study for allowing me to indulge in the arts of learning and physiology.

Most importantly, my undergrad experiences have given me a greater perspective on life. There are many many things in this world that need to be improved upon. Personally, I will pursue medicine to not only to heal others but also to fight and rectify the disparities and conflicts that obscure the field from its full potential. My past interactions with other bright individuals along my journey have ensured me that they will do great things and change their respective fields for the better as well.

Proudest Moment: Rushing the field after beating Stanford at Husky Stadium my sophomore year.

My interests are soccer, traveling, and going to new restaurants with my friends.

Proudest Moment: Getting into departmental honors for both of my majors within a week!

Thesis: Evaluating technological tools to support environmental literacy, Correlating landslide susceptibility and risk using GIS and statistical methods

Being a student at the College of the Environment, I'm constantly amazed by the power of people and education in order to creatively solve environmental issues. For our society to be proactive in solving major environmental catastrophes like climate change, we need to be better science communicators, activists, and advocates for justice and equity. The University of Washington has introduced me to a variety of people, which has just given me the opportunity to mentor, teach, and learn fro and is just one step in being a leader and role-model in my community.

#GoDawgs

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: I mentored a student at UW through the EDUC 401 program. I was able to utilize many of the skills I have learned in my undergraduate education. The best part was seeing their personal growth and realizing I made a small difference!

My Website mackenziemprice@gmail.com

My name is Mackenzie and I am graduating June 2020! I transferred to UW from a small, private school and it was a hard transition. But I am so glad I made the choice to join the UW community. I found my family and friends as captain of the Alpine Ski Team, balancing schoolwork with long weekends traveling and skiing all over the Northwest. Academically, I am passionate about the importance of the humanities and public policy in regards to equity of education. I had multiple opportunities to work with students, both at the high school level and college level, getting real hands-on experience inside the classroom that I will take into my future as an educator. Through the Honors English Cohort, I co-created a website, Eco-Poetry Washington, that analyzes poems through an eco-critical lens and maps their location throughout Washington State. In addition, I worked closely with faculty to research the reconciliation of land use rights between the National Park and Indigenous Peoples in Alaska. I hope to bring these holistic experiences and knowledge to wherever I go next in life! Go Dawgs!

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 freshman 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: Attending the capstone symposium and presenting my lightning talk

Thesis: Making Your Spring Break Sustainable: Can Tourism Be A Driver for Positive Environmental Change?

kort89@uw.edu

I am recent honors graduate from the University of Washington's Program on the Environment. I completed my undergraduate research in Mexico, where I studied sustainability in the heritage and tourism fields. My main interests are in creating better management techniques so that the travel industry can be more socially and ecologically responsible; and doing interdisciplinary research and applying systems thinking approaches to different problems. I have had the opportunity to develop many of my skills through study abroads in China and in Mexico. I am currently working with a Cultural Heritage Management non-profit in Mexico where I am attending and planning conferences for people in the travel, tourism, and heritage fields and I hope to start a podcast that addresses sustainability in travel.

Proudest Moment: When I graduated with 2 degrees, and one of them is an honor degree.

I am so glad to graduate as honors. I am excited to connect with other honor alumini.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Volunteering as a lead at UW Nurse Camp and seeing my campers/future nurses graduate!

Thesis: Improving Pediatric Asthma Shared Management: Development of the Symptom Monitoring and Response Module for the Child Asthma Management Program (CHAMP)

tkolstad@uw.edu

I have a previous degree in biology from the University of Washington and worked as a research scientist at Seattle Children's for four years. I came back to school to pursue nursing because my experiences at Seattle Children's showed me that what is really important to me in healthcare are relationships with people, and no one has more intimate relationships with patients than nurses. In whatever work I am doing, my purpose is always to help children lead the healthiest, most fulfilling lives possible.

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: 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: 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: Majoring in English

Phi Beta Kappa, English departmental Honors, OWRC tutor, Engl 281 TA,

Proudest Moment: On top of winning "Best Poster Presentation" at the Program on the Environment Spring 2019 Capstone Symposium for her internship project, the trail recommendations she produced from a nine week long camera trap study were accepted and included in the Conservation Plan of her organization, Bainbridge Island Land Trust. This showed that Ariana's work and studies were meaningful and impactful for positive environmental change!

Thesis: Barking Up the Wrong Trail: How Trail Users and their Dogs Impact Wildlife

arianamwinkler@gmail.com

Ariana Winkler is graduating with degrees in Environmental Science and Resource Management (BS, Honors) and Environmental Studies (BA, Honors) with minors in Quantitative Science and Restoration Ecology. With an interdisciplinary approach to academia, her interests include environmental justice, wildlife, camera traps, statistics and modeling, restoration ecology and climate change mitigation. She appreciates the use of statistics and environmental knowledge to solve socio-ecological problems. Over the four years at UW, she has gained experience in camera trapping, analytical science, ecological field research and the interdisciplinary studies of the environment.
Being out in nature is one of Ariana's favorite features of her studies. Her most treasured memories include fieldwork classes like the Friday Harbor Laboratory Marine Biology Quarter, ESRM 459 Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest, ESRM 304 Environmental Resource Assessment in Pack Forest, the entire Restoration Ecology Capstone series and a Costa Rica study abroad course, where she hiked up to three times a day. In partnership with Osa Conservation in Costa Rica, Ariana modeled occupancy for ocelots on the Osa Peninsula, integrating her passions for wildlife and statistics.
With two degrees, she participated in two amazing capstones. As part of a team of six students, Ariana planned and implemented the restoration of a degraded forest ecosystem located in North Rose Hill Woodlands Park. In her other capstone, she interned with Bainbridge Island Land Trust to design and deploy a nine week long camera trap study, producing over six thousand photos. She used this camera trap data to create ecologically sound trail recommendations based on wildlife and human disturbance.
In addition to her studies, Ariana worked part-time throughout college, using her analytical and scientific skills as a lab technician at a private environmental laboratory. Applying her interest of environmental justice and climate change mitigation, she was a Regional Organizer for the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network and was heavily involved in DivestUW.
Ariana hopes to apply her skills in wildlife, land management and statistics to a job in the environmental sector. Nonetheless, Ariana knows learning never stops. After gaining some experience and getting a break from academia, she will look into pursuing a Master's degree in quantitative wildlife ecology.

Proudest Moment: Presenting my research at the 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Thesis: The Role of Food in the Hellenistic and Roman Colonization of Ancient Trans-Jordan

lorraine.abagatnan@gmail.com

I am a graduating senior from the Classics department. I focus on Classical art and archaeology. My research interests include food and commensality studies, archaeological theory, and ancient expansion (i.e. colonialism). I have studied abroad in Jordan to work on a Near Eastern archaeological project. I am currently assisting with the Issei at Barneston Archaeological Project. Outside of archaeology, I am especially interested in Sappho and Greek lyric poetry, Greek and Roman epics, and Roman love poetry. I am proud to have completed my undergraduate education at the University of Washington! Special thanks to my two departments for taking good care of me.

My identity as a Filipina-American is very important to me. Despite having lived in the PNW for most of my life, I still consider myself a Southern-California girl through and through. That means a fond love of the ocean, swimming, playing hide and seek in citrus gardens, and other fun things.

My favorite hobbies are things I can do in my living room: reading, writing, playing music, and being with my friends and family. I love the outdoors, so hiking, camping, and general exploration is a must-have in my life! I also practice (and love) judo.

Proudest Moment: Completeing undergraduate research and presenting my capstone at the research syposium.

Thesis: Black Bear Occupancy Modeling in Washington State

When I'm not studying, I make time to read and run everyday. I race trail and ultramarathons competitively and make sure I always find time to prioritize my passions outside of school.

Proudest Moment: Kicking off my last year as a dawg by running the Seattle Marathon!

Thesis: Stress activates the dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor system in the prefrontal cortex to disrupt cognition

sannecasello@gmail.com

I'm so grateful to have immersed myself in my two passions, neuroscience and art history, during my time at the University of Washington. Studying abroad in Florence summer quarter of my freshman year ignited my love for art history and inspired me to pursue a minor. The opportunity to take these classes bestowed a breadth of knowledge I wouldn't have otherwise obtained and have been some of the most enlightening classes I've taken at the UW - many thanks to the lovely professors of the Art History department!

In academic contrast, the opportunity to be a member of the Chavkin Lab the past four years has shaped my undergraduate experience. Neuroscience has always been one of my passions, but my positive experience in the Chavkin Lab has solidified my desire to pursue Neuroscience as a career. The ability to develop as a neuroscience researcher, influenced by such positive mentors, is why I was able to accept a position at the National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C. to participate in research on psychiatric disease before applying to graduate school.

Ultimately, I'm beyond thankful for the friendships I've fostered during undergrad. From the neuroganglia to 4727, I can't imagine undergrad without you. Thanks for the mems University of Washington & go dawgs!!!

Proudest Moment: One of my proudest memories is working with high school students on college admission through the Pipeline Project.

I recently graduated from the University of Washington magna cum laude with a degree in English. I'm currently pursuing a Masters in Teaching at the UW with a Secondary English Language Arts Endorsement, and I hope to become a high school English teacher in the Seattle area.

Proudest Moment: Completing my individual capstone research project!

sarah.kneadler@gmail.com

I will be graduating from UW spring of 2019 from the ESRM department with departmental honors. My interests include natural resource management, corporate social responsibility, sustainable business practices, and sales! I love everything the PNW has to offer, like gorgeous scenery and a yummy Top Pot donut from time to time.

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: 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: Successfully adapting to a new language, culture, and way of life while studying abroad.

Thesis: Towards Resource-Efficient Contextual Word Representations for Parsing

My Website

I’m graduating with a dual degree in Computer Science (Data Science) and Linguistics. I’ve always pushed myself to gain a deeper understanding of everything I pursue and to work to advance the lives of others. To this end, I’ve filled my time at UW with experiences that have challenged me to grow intellectually and personally.
My research is in natural language processing, and I design computational approaches to tackle problems involving language. At UW, I’ve developed techniques for effectively modeling languages for which data is scarce and conventional methods are ineffective. I hope to bring the benefits of language technologies, like translation and misinformation detection, to speakers of such underrepresented languages. As a TA for the NLP class, I had the opportunity to share these experiences with many of my colleagues in CS.
I’m passionate about expanding my perspectives, and during the fall of my senior year, I studied abroad at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. In addition to challenging myself through graduate-level coursework, I gained valuable experience in appreciating, adapting to, and understanding a new culture.
I’ve interned three times as a software engineer: twice at Indeed.com, and once at Facebook. Following graduation, I’ll intern once more at Facebook before returning to UW, where I’ll pursue a M.S. in Computer Science and continue my research in NLP. I hope to continue learning, exploring the world, and improving others’ lives!

Proudest Moment: Receiving the Mary Gates Research Scholarship.

After transferring from UCLA in my freshman 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: 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: Going to Russia for a conference on arctic relations.

Thesis: The Development of an Assay for the Large-Scale Measurement of the Gaseous Biomarker Hydrogen Sulfide in Blood

ddrruss@uw.edu

Hello, I started college in 2013 here at the University of Washington. I will graduate with a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in Medical Anthropology. Departmental Honors was a good choice, it kept me on top of my grades and it made me feel like my research was noteworthy. I am glad that I attended a school with so many research opportunities and such a multitude of classes to choose from; I was able to take everything from a class on CAD design to 2.5 years of Russian language. The research opportunities at this university were the big pull for me to attend and they did not disappoint. Conducting undergraduate research was such a good experience for me, that I realized research is what I wanted to do full time. I developed a passion for analytical chemistry and I am now coming back to UW this fall to begin a PhD program in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. I am quite excited for what the future will bring.

Proudest Moment: Working on problem sets with my friends are both the proudest and most rewarding moments that I've had at UW. Solving some 446 problems with Luke are definitely the most memorable of the bunch.

Thesis: Verifying Strong Eventual Consistency in δ-CRDTs

My Website ttaylorr@cs.washington.edu

I am graduating with a BS in Computer Science with Departmental Honors from the Paul G. Allen School for Computer Science, and a minor in Mathematics. My thesis is about verifying that δ-CRDTs achieve Strong Eventual Consistency. After graduation, I am continuing to work at GitHub full-time.

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: 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 freshman 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: 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: My proudest moment at UW is graduating as a first generation college student!

It has been really awesome to be a UW student. I've really found my passion here, in art no less (every mother's worst nightmare!) But UW has shaped me to be who I am today and has set me on a life path where I can actually be happy.

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: 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: 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: 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: One of my proudest moments at the UW was receiving the Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship through the Ellison Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies in 2018.

Thesis: "The Development of Question Particles in Estonian Polar Questions," "Far From Silent: The Emergence of Tintinabulli in the Film Music of Arvo Pärt"

Aside from my parents of course, I am most thankful to my many mentors and peers at the University of Washington, for asking me the right questions and giving me a model for how to live a good life.
"The student must remain true to himself. At the end of the day, everybody has to rescue himself by whatever means he can." - Arvo Pärt

Proudest Moment: When my first studio project was selected for student archive for the departmental cite.

Thesis: Building with Bamboo: An exploration of joinery between traditional and contemporary method.

shresthamartin@yahoo.com

Architecture has a power to change the world. In a way, architects are like a magician, who can make fantasy into reality. With the modern approach, our world is getting rather boring with predictable designs and box architecture everywhere. So, as an architect my interests are to make interesting architecture that deviates from the normal ones and the one that enhances human experience, which also aids for the better and sustainable future.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at the UW was attending a study abroad program centered around social justice in Spain!

Thesis: Practitioners Competence in Mental Health

I am a passionate person centered around accessibility and equity for minorities. As a result I decided to become a part of departmental honors in order to run a study. As a result I will further my education in the Advanced Standing Masters Program at the University of Washington. My ultimate goal is to become a doctor in social work.

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: 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: 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: Performing in the Faculty Dance Concert in the Fall and the MFA Dance Concert in the Spring

Thesis: Two Left Feet Studios - A Dance Fitness Studio, all ages, all abilities and all styles welcome!

I took a winding path to get to where I am. I have been dancing my whole life and experienced some major set backs. I over came all of that and realized my dream. I wanted to teach. I knocked on doors until someone gave me a chance to teach. That led to more opportunities and more love for my art. It was after a few years I realized I wanted to combine my natural Business abilities with my love to teach. I wanted to open my own studio. I went back to school as a non-traditional student at my local community college. While working up to six jobs while going to school, I finished with my Business Administration degree and a Small Business Management Certificate. I then transferred to the UW to get my BA in Dance. While here I moved into a place and left my husband, son and dogs back in Vancouver, WA. I went to school, worked two jobs and tried to immerse myself in as many opportunities as I could. I started teaching Dance classes at the IMA on campus and made some wonderful friends. I also received a scholarship from the dance department to attend the Rhythm World 28 Dance Intensive in Chicago to receive a teaching certification in Tap Dancing. The program was taught by world renown tappers and it was a wonderful class of teachers. I got the honor of being in a dance piece for Kawasaki Guest Artist Etienne Cakpo in the Faculty Dance Concert as well as a dancer in MFA Brian Evan's piece for the MFA Dance Concert. I joined the National Society of Leadership and Success and am a proud graduate of the Dance program with honors. I will go back home to Vancouver, to reunite with family and begin the process to open up Two Left Feet Studios. I am so proud of my accomplishments and the road I have taken. It may be different, but it has been rich and full of life.

Proudest Moment: My proudest moment at UW was when I submitted my thesis after a year and a half of research and writing in both the Dominican Republic and New York.

Thesis: Motivations Driving the Differentiated Electoral Behavior of the Dominican Diaspora in New York during the 2012 and 2016 Dominican Presidential Elections

marielletrumbauer@gmail.com

My college career has defined and sparked in my a passion for activism. I spent my freshman year in Ireland at Trinity College Dublin before transferring to UW. During my time at UW, I worked on a Presidential campaign in Florida, a Senatorial campaign in Louisiana, and a Congressional campaign in Georgia. I also interned with the State Department in the Dominican Republic and the House of Representatives.

I began my college career as a business major, but later found my passion for politics and international relations. Applying to the Jackson School of International Studies was one of the best decisions that I made during my time at UW. I was able to serve as the President of the Jackson School Student Association (JSSA) and partake in the Departmental Honors Program. I joined my fellow honors classmate in her research in rural India, conducted research in the Dominican Republic, and did interviews all throughout New York City to compile an 84-page thesis that proved factors of corruption as motivators behind differentiated voting patterns in the diaspora.

My experience during the past three years at UW has inspired me to work in politics and stand up for marginalized populations. I plan to attend law school in the next three years and move to Washington D.C. with the goal of working for a Congressional Office.

Proudest Moment: Turning in my thesis and graduating cum laude!

Thesis: Stolen Autonomy and Futile Rebellion: Deriving Power from the Oppression of Women Under the Declining British Empire

cantor.leah4@gmail.com

I am so grateful for the experiences I have had as a student at UW. I got to spend two quarters in London and Rome studying abroad, and hope to continue traveling after I graduate. Next year, I will be working at a health technology startup in Seattle, and am looking forward to applying my degrees in a professional environment!

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: 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: Making the Annual Dean's List three consecutive years in a row to graduate with departmental honors after being rejected by all seven engineering majors I applied for in the summer of 2015.

albertmeuse22@gmail.com

When I came to the University of Washington in 2012, I vaguely knew I wanted to be an engineer, but I didn't really carry out the type of self-reflection needed to truly understand what my motivations were. In the past years I have went through a lot of adversity, and have matured greatly. I have become much more inquisitive, and curious. Although I have learned a tremendous amount in my time at UW, I am significantly less presumptive than I used to be, as I am much more aware of just how little I know. My long meandering undergrad experience has culminated in a double major in Bioresource Science & Engineering, and Environmental Science & Resource Management, in addition to a minor in Chemistry. In these programs I have learned a great deal about chemical engineering and forestry, and I intend on applying this knowledge in a way that addresses this current climate crisis we find ourselves in. This past year, under Anthony Dichiara, I conducted research on how graphene sponges made from carbon nanomaterials can be used for water treatment. I have worked as a dispatcher for the US Forest Service, as a canvasser for Environment Washington, and as a process engineer for NORPAC.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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 believe it will be the moment of hold in my hands the declaration of my completion of achieving my bachelor's degree !

Thesis: Bursting the Bubble: Transforming White Identities

My Website

I returned to college after a 31 year hiatus of raising a family four in 2013. I was at point in my life where I wanted to grow in ways that would challenge me in every sense of my being. It has been an incredible learning experience and I have been enriched in the academic soil of coursework that has literally transformed my life. Having the opportunity to experience Dr. Rachel Chapman's Alter/Native Anthropology course ushered in a profound intersection in my life where the exposure of my own "White Fragility" (DiAngelo, 56). in response to uncomfortable conversations around racial topics and privilege plowed into my identity as a white woman. It was the beginning of a deeper education of my ignorance and a revelation of the isolated reality my Whiteness had afforded me. My conscientious determination to push past fear and move deeper into vulnerable relationships with students of color allowed me to stay connected and do the work that was necessary to create new forms of engagement. The willingness on the part of people of color in my life at the time to move in relationship with me through the difficulty of sharing their stories allowed me to see outside of my own experiences and gain a new kind of knowing. What emerged relationally was profound; students worked through their own positionality within identified constructs of people groups and where together we examined intersections of power and oppression in our own lives through a lens of indigenous scholarship within the discipline of anthropology.
I wanted to understand how whiteness was affecting communities of color in my predominately white community of Bainbridge Island. This led me to purse the opportunity to apply to the departmental honors program in which I was able to continue to pursue an auto-ethnographic collaborative research project in my community in which I ask the questions “Can, and if so, where, when and how are white identities transformed from positions of White Fragility and White Supremacy into identities and relationships with People of Color of solidarity, allyship, accompliceship and race-traitorship in denouncing white privilege in order to create a culture that is equitable and inclusive for all people? ” My research has allowed me to examine how radical social justice education and cross-racial relationship building impacts individual and community identity transformation in respect to racial equity. I am committed to following this work in my community and am inspired by the faith that I see in other community members who are dedicated to the heartwork that is necessary to forge a culture that is more loving and just for all.

Robin Di Angelo, “White Fragility” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, vol. 3. no. 3. 2011, catalyst.uw.edu/workspace/file/download/7efed96ce7ca56e0747e7fffd69e8465f6d5a5451eb4b0ff3be81dabe33f1a34?inline=. (Accessed Nov. 14, 2017) 56.