HONORS
in Brief
Flexible classrooms
Engineering content This summer, Honors sophomore Celena Michaud interned as an online instructional content designer for the College of Engineering. “My experience in computer systems engineering,” she said, “guided me toward helping professors teaching foundational engineering courses create more supplemental content for their lectures.” She and other engineering students helped faculty as they developed instructional content to aid in the rapid transition to online and remote learning environments. They also created materials for foundational courses to help compensate for lessened face-to-face instruction during fall 2020. Celena is working toward a degree in computer systems engineering. In fall 2019, she completed the first of five full-time semester-long rotations in Savannah interning for Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. In the photo at right, she is soldering electrical connections for an embedded systems robot.
Graduate education
NSF fellowships
Mental health help
Breaking barriers Ciera Thomas, an Honors junior majoring in microbiology, is currently Senate President Pro-Tempore for the UGA Student Government Association. Last school year, she spearheaded Breaking Barriers, a week of programming co-hosted by the University Health Center that focused on mental health awareness and crisis prevention. “I was tasked with leading the efficient revision of legislation pertaining to organizational and student-conceived initiatives,” she said. “This role is one central to our ability to effectively represent the voices of over 30,000 students as it allows us to actively engage with our constituents and work toward resolving the issues they face on our campus.”
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UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2020
Seven Honors Program alumni were among 10 University of Georgia graduates recognized this year through the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support with an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution. The 2020 Honors recipients are listed below along with their graduation years, UGA degrees, graduate institution, and graduate program. • Jacob Lee Beckham, graduated from UGA in December 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, attending William Marsh Rice University for a Ph.D. in chemistry (chemical synthesis) • Mackenzie Joy, graduated from UGA in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy, attending the University of California, Berkeley for a Ph.D. in physics • Katie Luedecke, graduated from UGA in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, attending the California Institute of Technology for a Ph.D. in chemistry (chemical synthesis) • Arturia Melson-Silimon, graduated from UGA in May 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, attending UGA for a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology • Bailey Palmer, graduated from UGA in May 2018 with bachelor’s degrees in Arabic and economics, attending the University of California, Berkeley for a Ph.D. in economics • Jordan Peeples, graduated from UGA in May 2019 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, attending the University of Pennsylvania for a Ph.D. in economics • Zach Weingarten, graduated from UGA in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, attending the University of Pennsylvania for a Ph.D. in economics
