The International Student Organization annually hosts the International Student Recognition Banquet celebrating the successes of International Students. Each School & College nominates individuals who represent the highest academic achievement, leadership and involvement. This year, although we are not able to be together in person we are excited to honor these outstanding scholars.

College of Education:

Haidi Song:

Haidi is an accomplished student in the Counseling Psychology PhD program and will make an excellent counseling psychologist. She is committed to equity and justice in her clinical work, research, and other professional and personal roles. Haidi is conducting an impressive dissertation study on the role of using one’s native language in therapy, which will have implications for counseling with international students and immigrants. Haidi was also recently matched to a highly competitive pre-doctoral internship at Stanford University, which she will start in Fall 2020.

Lucas Adelino:

Lucas, originally from Brazil, is a Master’s student of Adult Education and a graduate assistant at the university’s ePortfolio Project. In this position, he works with students through a variety of workshops, in-class presentations, and programs. He will graduate in the Spring of 2020 and plans to further his graduate studies in the field of Linguistics. He has been an invaluable resource in terms of qualitative research and professional development for the adult education program. Lucas brings a passion to the field of adult learning that is transformational to both faculty and students across campus.

Julie Marie Louise Meynen:

Julie is an undergraduate Exercise Science major who has maintained academic excellence while pursuing the rigors of varsity athletics and international athletic competition. Her hard work, dedication and academic accomplishments are representative of the high caliber of students in the School of Kinesiology.

Mariane Faria Braga Bacelar:

Mariane is a PhD student studying Kinesiology, with a Neuroscience emphasis. Mariane has raised the bar for all doctoral students I meet. She conducts massive yet meticulous data collections; she challenges theories/models, causing me to think about them differently; she strives to learn cutting edge research techniques; and her writing and presentation skills are those of a faculty member (despite English not being her native language).

 

College of Agriculture:

Prasenjit Ghosh:

Ghosh hails from India. Prior to coming to Auburn in 2015 to earn a PhD in Applied Economics he spent two years with the International Crops Research Institute for the SemiArid Tropics (ICRISAT — headquartered in Patancheru, India) overseeing impact analysis of programs sponsored by the Institute. At Auburn, his studies have been supported by graduate research and teaching assistantships provided by the economics and agricultural economics departments. On a personal level, Mr. Ghosh is a warm and engaging individual who gets along well with his colleagues and serves as a role model for students. He is the type of person Auburn would be proud to claim as one of its graduates.

Ruben Kriseldi:

Ruben graduated with a M.S. degree in Poultry Nutrition in the Fall of 2016. In the Spring of 2017, Ruben entered into a PhD program and has been evaluating the effects of phytase supplementation on phytate degradation, inositol utilization, growth performance, and meat yield of broiler chickens. Ruben has done an excellent job with his research program at Auburn University. He has demonstrated effective leadership within the department in several situations. He assists graduate students on proper statistical techniques with analysis of experimental data, which is extremely important to our research enterprise.

Hanoi Medina:

Hanoi is a PhD candidate in our department under the direction of Dr. Di Tian. Hanoi will complete his PhD this semester. He has been an outstanding student and has excelled in the areas of research and leadership. His research focus in agroclimatology, or the impact of climate on agricultural systems. His publication record for a PhD student is outstanding.

Vivek Patil:

Vivek is currently a Biosystems engineering PhD student. Vivek joined the department as a graduate student in the biological engineering research lab in the summer of 2016. His research focuses on developing methods to efficiently valorize lignin, a valuable component of lignocellulosic biomass and crop residue. The overall goal of the research is to utilize lab experiments and characterization techniques to eliminate secondary reactions, and improve the phenolic monomer yield during lignin depolymerization. Overall, Vivek always takes efforts not only to learn new skills but also to help his colleagues and help the campus community flourish.

 

College of Human Sciences:

Shaniel Bernard:

Shaniel is a doctoral student from the Hospitality Management program. Originally from Jamaica, Shaniel, in many ways exceeding the challenging requirements and expectations for this award. For instance, Shaniel worked diligently to pursue academic excellence. As an instructor for several undergraduate courses, Shaniel is known as a warm, cheerful, and responsible teacher, who will go the extra mile to help students be successful. It’s not at all surprising that she has already received a job offer as a tenure track faculty member at one of the renowned universities in the U.S.

Florencia Ruiz:

Florencia is from Uruguay and she is currently a senior in the Hospitality Management program. Florencia’s academic record speaks volumes of her dedication and high level of commitment to what she is doing. In the classroom, she is always attentive and works tirelessly to pursue academic excellence. She is an avid learner, who takes each and every opportunity to advance herself. Florencia’s industry experience sets her apart from her peers. She is a great example of a student who achieves great success in balancing her academic performances and work.

 

School of Nursing:

Peace Elimimian:

Peace is an undergraduate in the College of Nursing and has an extreme desire to pursue her academic coursework with a work ethic like no other. She is very bright and has demonstrated a passion for learning. Peace is a student in the Honor’s College and has maintained academic excellence while devoting many hours to school, community, and work activities. She is also extremely caring and compassionate and serves as a School Ambassador.

 

College of Architecture, Design, and Construction:

Qiang (Michael) Qi:

Michael is doing his Master’s in Industrial Design and has participated in several design workshops such as the Semantics Workshop, the Chair Design Workshop, the Furniture Design Workshop as a teaching assistant, and the Future of Play Innovation Workshop. He has helped in designing and fabricating the new space for our graduate program as a project leader. Michael has also made tremendous contribution to make these workshops more successful.

Ledong Chen:

Ledong is an undergraduate in Industrial Design and has demonstrated, both to his peers and faculty body, a strong work ethic and an application of his talents to practical problems that design can solve. His 2019 internship experience with Dell only adds to his abilities and maturity as a designer. While excelling in his design practice, his professional and collegial attitude with students and faculty make him a pleasure with whom to collaborate.

Maaz Khan:

Maaz Khan got his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. After briefly working in the local construction industry, he joined Auburn University’s Master of Building of Construction program in Summer 2019. His current GPA is 3.86. Maaz is conducting his research on interior scanning of buildings using semi-autonomous robots under the supervision of Prof. Jeff Kim. He is a member of Sigma Lambda Chi honors society and general secretary of Pakistan Students Association at Auburn.

Deeksha Singh Katoch:

Deeksha is a senior in Environmental Design with a wide range of academic and non-academic interests, and a passion for learning which extends to all aspects of built environment. Her maturity, collegiality and ability to do collaborative work make her stand out not just in terms of international students, but all of Environmental Design students.

 

 

School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences:

Henrique Haas:

Henrique is currently an M.S. student in the Natural Resources Management working under my guidance. He is in his 4th semester and plans to defend his Thesis in Summer. Henrique has a wonderful personality and a great work ethic. He is very independent and a creative researcher. He always comes up with new research ideas. He exhibits the maturity of a PhD student (at the AGU conference this past December many thought he was a PhD student) As a result, he has already been offered GRA to start his PhD in the Fall.

John Mensah:

John is always at the top of his class and has been dedicated to his classes but has been especially dedicated in helping his classmates learn the material. John was the TA for the Fall of 2018 and the Fall of 2019 for the Forest Health Protection. In addition to a demanding course load, John has performed admirably while conducting his research. His dissertation research has examined the pathogenicity and virulence of Leptographium terebrantis involved in pine decline. He is currently looking at tree response and fungal aggressiveness in mature trees. John motivates everyone in the lab and always has an upbeat attitude.

Diego Gomez-Maldonado:

In 2017, Diego was admitted to Auburn to pursue a PhD Degree and has been a great team player in every aspect of his studies. He possesses a very high level of motivation and productivity, as well as an eagerness to learn and teach. Diego has demonstrated a great deal of maturity to acquire valuable results by collaborative research with foreign and national academic partners. Since joining Auburn University, Diego has co-authored 3 peer-reviewed publications in a high impact journal. All of his work shows that he will have a promising future as a well-rounded member of academia and society.

Maria Celeste Iglesias:

Celeste was admitted to Auburn to pursue a M.S. Degree and has been working hard ever since. She is a great team player with a very high level of motivation and productivity, as well as an eagerness to learn. In the summer of 2017, she got an assistantship from the European Polysaccharides Network of Excellence to visit the Fibers Processing Lab at the University of Maribor in Slovenia. She has demonstrated a great deal of maturity, requiring valuable results through collaborative research with foreign and national academic partners. Celeste has also been awarded the PhD Presidential fellowship.

 

 

College of Liberal Arts:

Sarthak Subidit Behera:

Sarthak is currently a PhD student in the Department of Economics. He joined the PhD program in 2014 and is currently ranked, by faculty, as the top 1% of graduate students in this particular PhD program. He is an independent instructor and has taught over 500 students in multiple sections of Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics over the last three years. He has done an excellent job teaching and, impossibly enough, an even better job in his studies. Sarthak is one of the most articulate, responsible, humble, and polite graduate students in the program at Auburn. He is also extremely ambitious and makes the faculty at Auburn so incredibly proud.

Jie Zhang:

Jie is a graduating PhD student in the Economics Department, with an interest in public policy, and has taught many times in the Economics Department, with solid results. Jie has produced solid scholarship and is set forth to defend her dissertation in the coming month. Jie has worked hard in the classroom having taught 11 separate sections (on her own) of principles of microeconomics, including in the Auburn Global program. She is absolutely brilliant and highlights the definition of an incredible student.

 

Harrison School of Pharmacy:

Shahariar Mohammed Fahim:

Shahariar is an extremely hard-working student, a self-starter, and a strong communicator, both verbally and in writing. He works collaboratively with his peers and is a great colleague. Shahariar has been productive in his research pursuits; he currently has three peer-reviewed publications, one of those as first author. Reflecting upon what makes Shahariar depart from other students, it is his leadership skills. Shahariar displays the qualities of successful graduate students who have a promising future. He will represent Auburn University very well and would be a student of whom we always are very proud.

Pryanka Das Pinky:

Dr. Priyanka Das Pinky, joined Dr. Vishnu Suppiramaniam’s lab in the fall of 2016 to pursue a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her research has been featured in more than 18 national and international news outlets including Newsweek, Scientific America and others. She has published seven papers to date with additional manuscripts in preparation. She has also passed the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) and desires to become a physician-scientist in the field of clinical pharmacology.

Wu Chen:

Wu “Patrick” Chen joined Dr. Li Feng’s lab in the of Fall 2017 to pursue a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He obtained his BS from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University and MS from Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry. As an international student, he quickly adapted to the new environment and demonstrated outstanding performance in the past two years. He has made excellent progress related to his dissertation research, publishing 5 papers, multiple conference abstracts, as well as being a co-inventor of one patent. Currently, he is preparing two additional research papers in which he will be the lead author.

Fnu Ibtisam:

Fnu Ibtisam (Ibby) began her Ph.D. studies in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2016 and is now a member of Dr. Kisselev’s laboratory. Ibby’s dissertation research focuses on the potential role of a novel protein DDI2 as drug target in cancer. Her research has been presented locally as well as at the at UAB O’Neal NIH Comprehensive Cancer Center Retreat and the American Society for Mass-Spectrometry National Meeting. She is ambitious and is working on two projects with high-impact.

Min Young Kim:

Min Young Kim is a student in the 4th professional year of the Doctor of Pharmacy Program, and is currently completing her advanced pharmacy. She is described by the pharmacists supervising her as a hard-working student who is eager to learn, and who will become a great pharmacist. She is a student who is willing to go far beyond the minimum required expectations. She works well as a team member and always communicates professionally both verbally and in written documents.

 

Samuel Ginn College of Engineering:

Kislaya Mishra:

Kislaya is a mechanical engineering senior who serves as a tutor for subjects including system dynamics and controls, heat transfer and physics. He studied industrial development in China during a month-long study abroad program at Taiyuan University of Science and Technology and Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. In addition, he spent the summer of 2019 interning with TATA Motors exploring different types of gearboxes and their workings.

Silvia Stawska:

Silvia is a doctoral candidate in the Civil Engineering Department, specializing in bridge-related research projects. She holds two master’s degrees, one in civil engineering and another in mechanical engineering from Poland’s University of Science and Technology, and two bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from Tarleton State University in Texas and the University of Science and Technology. She earned an award for the best master thesis in 2018 from the Chamber of Civil Engineers in Poland.

Anjanya “AJ” Bandekar:

“AJ” is a doctoral candidate in Industrial and Systems Engineering where he has worked diligently to prepare a historical epidemiological database to allow the Occupational Safety and Ergonomics research group to analyze novel ergonomic tools, including the group’s most recent tool, the Shoulder Analysis tool. He earned his bachelor’s degree in instrumentation engineering from India’s University of Mumbai and his master’s in industrial and systems engineering from Auburn University.

Nakul Kothari:

Nakul is a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering and has performed research for companies including Texas Instruments, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the US Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center. He earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn and his bachelor’s degree, also in mechanical engineering, from India’s Mumbai University. He is a two-time recipient of the best poster award at the Annual Elements of Mechanical Engineering Conference for 2018 and 2019.

 

College of Sciences and Mathematics:

Jiaxu (Bruce) Gao:

Bruce has had enormous academic success and his undergraduate research work are superb examples of outstanding achievement. His academic advisor, Taylor Moss, quotes, “My interactions with Bruce have all been great. He is very pleasant and always prepared. He gives significant thought to the choices he makes and holds himself to a very high standard. He has tackled rigorous semesters head-on and is never one to make an excuse. He is very forward thinking and exhibits great initiative in planning his future. He has excelled during his time here as evidenced by his GPA, and I know he will be successful in his future endeavors (grad school hopefully).”

Alinne Pereira:

Alinne’s academic success and graduate research work are superb examples of outstanding achievements by a COSAM student. Her major professor, Dr. Mark Liles, provided the following observations about Alinne: “Alinne Pereira has made excellent progress to date toward her PhD, and her research is making significant progress on multiple fronts. Her literature review was published as a chapter in the book “Functional Metagenomics” that will also serve as her first dissertation chapter. Alinne has also been an instrumental member of the Liles lab – she has worked collaboratively with many different research groups also, and is expected to earn co-authorship on several additional manuscripts. Alinne’s good natured interaction with other students and peers, combined with her excellent bioinformatic skills, will take her far in her professional career.

Ruobing Chen:

Ruobing’s academic success and undergraduate research work are superb. Dr. Joanna Szuba-Solinska provided the following observations about Ruobing: “Ruobing Chen joined my lab in the Spring of 2018 as an undergraduate student seeking the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge in the field of molecular virology. Ruobing is one of the most bright, hard-working, and creative young women with very high professional goals. She is exceptionally well-organized, extremely quick to grasp new concepts, and always knows the objectives of a project. Ruobing Chen is well equipped to grow from the challenges that she is presented with.

Luyining (Elaine) Gan:

Dr. Abebe provided the following observations about Elaine: “Elaine’s research is probably quite complicated to describe in a short nomination letter, but it involves the application of differential geometry to study matrix and Lie group curvature as well as combinatorial matrix theory. Although these are very difficult areas of mathematics, Elaine has already published some of her results. She has also established collaboration networks independent of her dissertation supervisors and some of these are with very prominent researchers in matrix theory.” Elaine has served as one of five graduate student leaders in DMS for about 3 years.

Niamat Khuda:

Niamat’s major professor, Dr. Christopher Easley, provided the following observations about Niamat: “Niamat joined my group in the fall of 2015, and she is on schedule to graduate with a Ph.D. later this year. She is now the senior graduate student in my laboratory, and she has played a key leadership role in my laboratory on developing new techniques using electrochemistry to detect biomarkers of disease. She has already published an article in Analytical Chemistry in 2019 based on her work with a new instrument that we built for electrochemical measurements. She is hard-working and extremely strong and represents our College incredibly well.

 

College of Veterinary Medicine:

Ferrin Antony:

Ferrin is currently pursuing her PhD in Biomedical Sciences in the Department of Pathobiology, in the College of Veterinary Medicine. She has an extreme passion to learn and research and anybody who has been lucky enough to meet her, knows that she is extremely hard-working and driven. Her determination to excel in this field and contribute positively to the society around her is extremely admirable.

Wenqi Cao:

Wenqi was admitted to our Biomedical Science graduate Ph.D. program in August 2018, as a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship (PGRF). She earned her Bachelor’s degree in July 2018 at Tongji University, one of the best University in China (15th national ranking and 3rd in Shanghai). As the leading graduate student on the research protocol, she is in charge of the colony maintenance, breeding, sample collection and storage for several ongoing projects in the lab. Genomic analysis in multiple livestock and companion animal species is a major research front in the lab, and next-generation sequencing is a powerful technique for the comparative genomic analysis. She is a strong student and person to say the least.

Anwar Kalalah:

Anwar joined the PhD program in January of 2017 and has since worked hard and diligently on an antimicrobial resistance-related project which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Kalalah is an honest and hard-working graduate student, and has published seven peer-reviewed articles since 2017. In addition, Mr. Kalalah is a co-author for three manuscripts which are under review.

Ting Liu:

Ting joined the PhD program in Januaru of 2018 and has successfully finished all course work for Biomedical Science Graduate Program. She obtained A in all classes, with a perfect GPA of 4.0. She has been working on several projects, including pharmacological characterization of melanocortin-4 receptor and melanocortin-5 receptor in fish, mutant melanocortin-3 receptors and mutant melanocortin-4 receptors in human. She has strong technical skills and is always willing to help others. She also has excellent teaching and supervising skills.

Sandra Zetterström:

The objective of her work is to develop a double hemi-tenotomy technique to lengthen the equine DDFT as an alternative surgical treatment to complete DDF tenotomt for treatment of horses with refractory laminitis. Thus far, preliminary data has been resulted in the development of two cadaver models for biomechanical testing. Based on the preliminary data, the developed hemi-tenotomy technique appears to be clinically applicable. After initiation of the experimental study, over half of the specimens (limbs and tendons) have been tested to date and preliminary statistics show promising results with load reductions after double hemitenotomies similar to complete tenotomies.

Tamara Sierra:

Dr. Sierra is a native of South America (Paraguay) is participating in a combined equine internal medicine residency and thesis master of science program at Auburn University. Her MS project was to investigate the use of an antifungal agent, voriconazole, for the treatment of fungal pneumonia after delivery of the drug by nebulization in horses. We did this project in collaboration with the Harrison School of Pharmacy. Dr. Sierra had a strong background in private practice (she worked as an ambulatory veterinarian in Paraguay and did an internal medicine fellowship at Hagyard Medical Institute in Lexington Kentucky), but she had not ever done any research. She wrote a grant for the Veterinary Comparative Respiratory Society that was funded during the first year of her residency. We quickly learned that very little voriconazole accumulates in the lung after nebulization, so she had to redesign her project to collect samples from the upper airways of horses after delivery. She has presented this work as oral abstracts at 2 very prestigious national/international meetings: the Veterinary Comparative Respiratory Society Symposium and the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum. She is currently preparing a manuscript for submission to the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, and she is writing her MS thesis. She will defend her MS in June of 2020.

Jiwoong Her:

Dr. Her is near completion of his training as a small animal emergency and critical care specialist veterinarian. During his time here at Auburn, he has excelled in research areas, completing 3 major studies including a pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of alternative administration of pimobendan, the correlation of admission vitals and the finding of brain herniation in dogs, and a similar study in cats. Dr. Her has sought opportunities to present in many arenas, leading the way in student rounds, case discussions, lectures for student clubs, college‐wide seminars, and national conference platforms. He has embraced each setting as an opportunity to improve his English and presentation skills and has made incredible improvements.

Julian Arroyave:

Dr. Arroyave is currently in the third and last year of his diagnostic imaging residency program. He has been an exceptional resident trainee throughout his time at Auburn. He is extremely knowledgeable, hardworking and collegial. He has the respect of his mentors, peers and colleagues. This is exemplified in him being elected as the chief small animal resident this past year. He is actively involved in collaborative research with the farm animal, anatomy and radiology departments. Dr. Arroyave is a talented teacher and presenter. He consistently receives high marks on student teaching evaluations and has had some of the best comments I have seen in my time here for his resident seminars. Dr. Arroyave is generous with his time and participates in outreach activities. He has volunteered repeatedly to give presentations, rounds and laboratories for the student diagnostic imaging club. He has also worked hard to provide continuing education classes remotely on his own time to veterinarians in his native Colombia.

 

Raymond J. Harbert College of Business:

Efim (Daniel) Gredin:

Mr. Gredin is originally from Russia and has been highly active in the student chapter of the AMA rising to the position of President after holding a variety of other leadership positions.  He is both passionate about social media marketing and sales and is currently in Dr. Kincaid’s APS class. He is a brilliant student who demonstrates his ability and desire to lead and learn.