Featured Recipients
Coleman Warren
Rhodes Scholar - 2022
Coleman Warren, a summa cum laude industrial engineering and political science alum, was named 1 of 32 Rhodes Scholars in the United States for 2022. A 2021 Truman Scholar, he is committed to a career alleviating childhood hunger in his home state of Arkansas. During his undergraduate studies, he founded a boutique ice cream shop named Simple + Sweet, and its profits benefit local charities that provide meals for hungry children. As a Rhodes Scholar, he will pursue an MPhil in Comparative Social Policy.
Anna Mathis
Truman Scholar - 2023
An agricultural education, communications and technology major, Mathis was awarded the prestigious 2023 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. She is committed to rural and international agricultural development, particularly food security. Involved in community service and food security programs, she aspires to work on rural and agricultural policy in Washington, DC, and international agriculture development nonprofits before returning to Arkansas to focus on equitable food systems. The scholarship will fund her master's degree in global development and agricultural economics, furthering her ambition to champion rural America.
Alex Davis
Udall Scholar - 2023
A Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen, Davis is an agriculture business, pre-law junior with a minor in international economic development. An active campus leader, Davis works with the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Directorate Resource Assistant Fellowship. She is focused on advocating for Indigenous agriculture and sustainable practices, with future plans to pursue environmental law, and ultimately, uplift the Muscogee (Creek) community in agricultural pursuits.
Amelia Southern Uribe
Udall Scholar - 2023
A Colombian American journalist, climate activist, and artist, Southern-Uribe is majoring in broadcast journalism and political science. They founded Zero Hour Arkansas, a climate justice organization and served as the director of southeastern chapters for This is Zero Hour. Southern-Uribe is committed to environmental justice, climate communication, and intersectionality and plans to be a climate communications coordinator, bridging the gap between policymakers and communities, and intend to pursue a master’s degree in environmental management to further these ambitions.
Stephen Pierson
Goldwater Scholar - 2023
An honors mechanical engineering student who focuses on microchannel heat sinks research, Pierson uses advanced manufacturing techniques to improve thermal performance in liquid-cooled heat sinks. With three first-author publications and presentations at significant conferences, Pierson is making strides in his field. He's also an active tutor and volunteer, an Honors College Fellow, Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholar, and National Merit Scholar. Praised for his academic achievements and leadership, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.
JP Gairhan
Schwarzman Scholar - 2023
A 2019 graduate and honors student in African and African American studies, history, and political science, Gairhan was named a 2023 Schwarzman Scholar, securing a full scholarship for global affairs graduate study at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Originally from Cabot, Gairhan has served in various leadership roles and worked domestically and internationally, including as a Fulbright English teaching assistant to Botswana and an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. He plans to pursue a career with the U.S. Agency for International Development, focusing on youth development and education.
Spencer Hazeslip
Fulbright English Teaching Assistant - 2023
A 2023 honors graduate majoring in chemistry and Spanish, Hazeslip was an Honors College Fellow and an Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholar. He also received a U.S. State Department Critical Language Scholarship to study Russian. Hazeslip is a Finalist for an English teaching assistantship to Kazakhstan. On campus, Hazeslip was involved in the Russian-Eurasian Student Organization, volunteered for the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry, and tutored students studying Russian. After his time as an English teaching assistant, he plans to attend medical school.
Jacob Condran
Fulbright English Teaching Assistant - 2023
A 2021 honors graduate majoring in history, international and global studies, and political science, Condran was named a 2023 Finalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and will serve as an English teaching assistant in Azerbaijan. He is pursuing a graduate degree from Charles University in Prague. At the University of Arkansas, Condran worked as an intern for Canopy NWA and as the fundraising coordinator for Students with Refugees. He interned with the U.S. Department of State in Cyprus. While studying in the Czech Republic, Condran volunteered with Dignity, a Czech refugee resettlement organization, taught English, and served as a graduate research assistant. He plans a career in academia.
Alexis Applequist
NSF Graduate Research Fellow - 2023
A graduate in biomedical engineering in 2021, Applequist conducted research with Morten Jensen and Kartik Balachandran, both associate professors of biomedical engineering. She also conducted industry research at a medical technology startup company in Bangalore, India. Currently a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at the U of A, she is developing a heart-on-chip platform, Coco Chip, to be used as a novel drug screening device in the pharmaceutical industry. She plans a career in industry research and development with the goal of minimizing the socioeconomic gap in healthcare worldwide.
Carson Molder
NSF Graduate Research Fellow - 2023
A summa cum laude graduate with a B.S.C.E. in computer engineering in 2021, Molder was an Honors College Fellow, performing undergraduate research with data science professor Justin Zhan on using deep learning to improve the analysis of medical images. Currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin, he is now researching ways to use machine learning to accelerate the memory interface in computer hardware.
Ivris Raymond
NSF Graduate Research Fellow - 2023
An honors computer engineering graduate in spring 2023, Raymond conducted undergraduate research with Alexander Nelson, assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering, with the support of an Honors College Undergraduate Research Grant. Raymond will pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in the fall, researching heterogeneous computer architectures for novel devices. She plans to pursue a career in academia after her graduate studies.
Sanidhya Tripathi
NSF Graduate Research Fellow - 2023
A cum laude graduate in biomedical engineering in May 2022, Tripathi conducted undergraduate research in the lab of Narasimhan Rajaram, associate professor of biomedical engineering. Currently a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, he is developing optical imaging technologies to aid in the detection and treatment of skin cancer. He plans a career in academia or industry working at the intersection of biotech and business.
Jarrod Varnell
NSF Graduate Research Fellow - 2023
A summa cum laude U of A graduate in biology and biochemistry in 2022, Varnell studied the genetics underlying butterfly mate preferences with Erica Westerman, associate professor of biology. Currently a Ph.D. student in evolutionary biology at Cornell, he researches the genetic and neurobiological factors underpinning behavioral and wing pattern phenotypes in butterflies. In the future, he hopes to establish his own lab at an institution where he can continue researching the molecular bases for behavior.
Mary Jia
NSF Graduate Research Fellow - 2023
A graduate with an honors B.S.Bm.E. degree in biomedical engineering in the spring of 2023, she is a Bodenhamer Fellow conducting research with Christopher Nelson, an assistant professor in biomedical engineering and is investigating CRISPR editing tools using orthogonal sequencing methods for curative rare genetic disease therapeutics. In her graduate studies, she will continue research in molecular therapeutics.
Joseph Roll
NSF Graduate Research Fellow - 2023
An honors graduate in spring 2023 in physics (computational concentration) and mathematics (pure concentration), Roll performed undergraduate research with Salvador Barraza-Lopez, associate professor of physics, and will attend the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a Ph.D. in physics researching theoretical condensed matter physics. He plans to pursue a career in academia working as a physics professor.