Community News

The Randall Research Scholars Program hosted its annual Honors Celebration recognizing the achievements of RRS students during the 2023-2024 academic year. This event honors RRS internal award and fellowship recipients, external award recipients, university award recipients, intramural teams, and the graduating senior class of 2024.

Click on the following link to learn more: Internal Awards.

The Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award Program was established in 1997. These awards celebrate exceptional research conducted by undergraduate students. The recipients are selected by a distinguished panel of UA research faculty and past winners of the Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award.

Congratulations to the Randall Research Scholars who received the 2024 ROUR Award:
Cole Christie, Isabella Concannon, Fiona Gill, Rachel Lane, Riley Nold, Christian Stephens, and Michael Zengel

These exceptional scholars have demonstrated dedication, curiosity, and a commitment to advancing knowledge. Their contributions enrich our academic community and inspire future generations of researchers.

Click on the following link to learn more: ROUR Award.

Abby Foes is a 2023 graduate from Rockford, Illinois. She graduated from the RRS program with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and mathematics with a minor in global health. While at UA, Abby was a research assistant for Dr. Ayanjeet Ghosh in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, working with infrared spectroscopy to study Alzheimer’s disease tissue samples and the disease’s hallmark protein deposits. During her time with Dr. Ghosh, Abby received the Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, the H. Pettus Randall Jr. Scholarship, and the Outstanding Chemistry Undergraduate Research Award. She also received the Catherine J. Randall Premier Award and the Hazel Phelps Jones Award in the spring of 2023. Now, Abby is a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Department of Biostatistics. She is working under Dr. Tanya Garcia in developing statistical methodologies to address censored covariates motivated by the study of Huntington disease.

"The Randall Research Scholars program was invaluable in shaping me to be the student, researcher, and peer that I am today. The program provided support and motivation along my academic journey as well as comfort in my personal growth through my undergraduate education."

Click on the following link to learn more: External Award Recipients.

Aparna Bhooshanan is a computer science major and Chinese minor from Madison, Alabama. She is a Critical Language Scholarship and Boren Scholarship winner and will spend Summer 2024 as well as the 2024-2025 academic year studying in Taiwan. In addition to being a Randall Research Scholar and Witt University Fellow, Aparna is the current President of UA's chapter of the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers. In the past two summers, Aparna has interned at Lockheed Martin as a software engineer and participated in an NSF-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of North Texas, where she used natural language processing (a field that unites linguistics with machine learning) techniques to measure how China's reputation as a country has changed since the pandemic. She is currently leading a research project alongside UA's Dr. Yanyu Xiong and Dr. Xiang Zhang that employs AI methods to support Chinese heritage language speakers' language acquisition. This year, Aparna was named UA's Outstanding Sophomore. Additionally, she was recognized by the Modern Languages and Classics department for Excellence in Second-Year Chinese. Aparna aims to use her knowledge of Mandarin and natural language processing to contribute to the machine translation field and to develop methods to combat digital misinformation in different countries.

"Despite how many brilliant students they oversee, the RRSP directors, Dr. Gray and Ms. Batson, always manage to notice and celebrate each student's triumphs. Studying abroad in Taiwan for at least a year has been a dream of mine since high school, and this opportunity wouldn't have been possible without Dr. Gray and Ms. Batson's encouragement and guidance throughout the process. Numberless students' dreams are made possible by the tireless support from the Randall community."

Click on the following link to learn more: Outstanding Student Awards.