Fall 2020 exCITE Talks
Twelve undergraduate students participated in Fall 2020's final round of exCITE Talks on September 30, 2020. Students presented their experience with internships, learning abroad, service learning, and undergraduate research. Their presentations demonstrated the importance of co-curricular learning in gaining the skills necessary for professional success.
Watch Our Winners
Wasiq Javed, senior political science major, took home the 1st place prize with the presentation, “Changing Someone's World.” Wasiq shared his experience on a service-learning trip to Syria and Palestine. There, he met a girl that inspired him to raise money to build a school for refugee children.
Dania Amarneh, senior psychology major, won the 2nd place prize with the presentation, “The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in the Relationship between Childhood Maltreatment and Sleep Disturbance.” Through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), Dania was able to explore her own research question and make a novel contribution to the field.
Isabelle do Prado Nakamura, senior human resource development major, placed 3rd. Her presentation “Food Safety Education Curriculum for Texas Small Growers" discussed research she conducted through SURF.
Elaine Tran, junior nutritional sciences major, took home the People’s Choice Award. In her presentation, she shared her experience researching health education in a Texas school district through DASH Pharis Fellowship Program.
Our Other Finalists
- Maryam Baldawi, senior biology major, presented her experience with the Ignite Leadership Program;
- Mariana Keymolen, senior industrial design major, learned the business side of product development through an internship with OwlSpark/RED Labs Accelerator;
- Cassidy Lee, sophomore political science and Spanish major, shared her learning experience in Washington D.C.;
- Sorosh Malekzad, sophomore management information systems major, presented his experience as an intern with the University of Houston Libraries-Special collections;
- Katherine Pham, senior biomedical engineering major, highlighted research she conducted through SURF in her presentation "Uncovering the Clues to Stroke Motor Impairment";
- Alexander Reeves, senior accounting major, discussed his two internships with NASA as a contract specialist and a programatic analyst;
- Irisha Suhaimi, senior finance major, shared her experience interning with Deutsche Bank as a sales and trading analyst; and
- Ryan Tran, senior mathematics major, discussed how his course work in mathematics prepared him for economic research on the impact of carbon credits, which he conducted through SURF.