Published August 28, 2017 This content is archived.
Thirteen students in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences were honored for outstanding achievements at the University at Buffalo’s 2017 Celebration of Student Academic Excellence.
The awardees were among students from disciplines across the university who were awarded — or nominated for — national, State University of New York (SUNY) and UB awards.
Jacob W. Caldwell, a recently graduated senior majoring in biomedical engineering and Spanish, has accepted a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach in an urban area in northern Spain.
“I will use American football to support health and learning at my placement,” Caldwell wrote in his application. “An after-school flag football program requires little equipment while introducing a key piece of the U.S. identity. Showing football films and games will complement the physical activity. Introducing the variety of cities that host professional teams will display the variety of American society. Finally, I will play soccer as well, in order to ensure an equal exchange of culture.”
Caldwell intends to pursue a doctorate in biomedical engineering when he returns to the U.S.
Caldwell also received a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.
Antara Majumdar, a recently graduated senior majoring in biomedical sciences, was chosen as a Fulbright alternate. Majumdar’s Fulbright project proposed expanding the international education program Beyond the Block in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England.
“By working with students in a local secondary school, I would like to introduce to them the work that biomedical researchers are conducting in universities,” Majumdar wrote in her application.
“In turn, these students will engage in digital literacy projects in which they discuss issues in their communities with students in India and America.”
In addition to being chosen as a Fulbright alternate, Majumdar was nominated for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, the George J. Mitchell Scholarship Program and the Rhodes Scholarship.
National Institutes of Health Individual National Research Service Award nominees included:
SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence awardees included the following:
Danielle Y. Twum, a microbiology and immunology student, was among the awardees for the UB Three Minute Thesis Awards.
The UB Undergraduate Awards for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creativity recognize outstanding contributions that achieve superiority in presentation, content and scope. Biomedical sciences awardees were:
The 13th annual celebration included an undergraduate poster presentation that showcased research in projects nominated by deans and program coordinators from a variety of UB’s academic disciplines.
Charles F. Zukoski, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, emphasized in his remarks that he believes UB has a responsibility as a public research university “to impact our community and the larger world, and to create positive change in everything we do.” He also praised the lasting impact UB students were having on the world.
“The depth of knowledge, the enthusiasm and the range of subjects that were explored (in the poster session) is simply astonishing and it is certainly a pleasure to be working at UB with such talented students,” Zukoski said.
“The students we are celebrating today have taken full advantage of UB’s resources and educational opportunities, and they have thrived. Honorees, you are truly extraordinary; the UB community is enormously proud and we have learned from your success.”
The April celebration was hosted by Zukoski along with Andrew M. Stott, former vice provost and dean of undergraduate education and Graham L. Hammill, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School.