Community News

Every year, RRS Members take part in a plethora of unique and stimulating experiences over the summer. This report consolidates the experiences of current RRS students in summer 2025.

Click on the following link to learn more: Summer Experiences Report PDF.

Zachary Griffith is a chemical engineering and chemistry dual major and physics minor in the Randall Research Scholars Program. He conducts research with Dr. Zhongyang Wang on the structure and kinetics of anion exchange membranes as separators for liquid-interface fuel cell applications. This summer, Griffith is conducting research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the Department of Energy’s Summer Undergraduate Laboratory Internship Program, utilizing dynamic electrical impedance techniques to study the memresistance of neuromorphic circuits. Outside of research, Griffith is the design team lead for UA’s ChemE Car competition, as well as president of the UA Electrochemistry Society chapter. He previously received the Outstanding Sophomore commendation from the Randall Research Scholars Program.

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

Jesse Park is in the engineering entrepreneurship program pursuing a dual master’s degree in mechanical engineering through the Accelerated Master’s Program and an MBA through the STEM Path to MBA. He works with Dr. Keivan Davami to investigate the compressive behavior of additively manufactured mechanical metamaterials and characterize the nanomechanical properties of heat-treated materials. He has conducted research at both Argonne National Laboratory, focusing on biorefinery simulation and capacitive deionization, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he worked on microfluidic chip optimization and surrogate brain development. This summer, he will be returning to Wisconsin to continue work on characterizing biological tissues at high strain rates for use in blast traumatic brain injury simulation.

Outside of research, Park is president of UA’s chapter of Tikkun Olam Makers, a club that designs low-cost, open-source solutions for people with disabilities. In his first year of restarting the club, he led UA to being the only U.S. university to win a grand prize and one of only two U.S. universities to win multiple prizes in the Tikkun Olam Makers Global Innovation Challenge, which spanned 33 campuses across 13 countries and included universities like Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, and Georgia Tech. Outside of being an ambassador for the Honors College and College of Engineering, he also plays trumpet in the UA Jazz Ensemble and is a member of the HallyUA K-Pop dance team.

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

The Randall Research Scholars Program hosted its annual Honors Celebration recognizing the achievements of RRS students during the 2024-2025 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.