Current Scholarship Recipients

Giué Family Scholarship 2006

Amanda Beneke plans to work with children as a Speech-Language pathologist in an elementary school setting. Her planned degree in Speech and Language Pathology will allow Amanda to obtain the qualifications necessary for this role. Amanda’s thesis discusses “Targeting Early Readers,” a reading program addressing the needs of children who have been removed from abusive or neglectful homes, and contains recommendations designed to maintain the success of the program.

Erin Blomquist dreams of a future in medicine. Her career objective is to merge her interests in engineering and biochemistry to develop advances in medical treatments. In addition to contributing through her research she hopes to make practical contributions through participation in a program such as Doctors without Borders. Erin’s next step is a master’s degree in Biosystems Engineering after which she plans to attend medical school.

Pavla Senkyrikova also hopes to work with children. Her acceptance in dental school in California is the next step toward her goal of becoming a dentist and working with children with special needs. She looks forward to working with a humanitarian organization that provides care for underserved individuals. Pavla’s thesis investigated the effectiveness of a new and less costly assay method for quantifying the infectivity of the infectious agent in prion diseases such as scrapie.

William and Marguerite Hesketh Scholarship

Shafiul (Jacky) Islam is the 2006 recipient of the William and Marguerite Hesketh scholarship. Jacky is a sophomore majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Jacky overcame several challenges in getting admitted to a university in the United States from Bangladesh. His family valued education highly and are well educated; Jacky was the first in his family to study in the British education system. His interest in engineering began early in life when he loved playing with Legos and doing math for enjoyment. In addition to his interest in mathematics and engineering, Jacky was involved in music and sport throughout his education. At the UA Jacky has excelled academically, seeking out challenging honors courses, and assuming leadership roles on class projects. His Enginering 102 team won the Fall 2005 Engineering Design competion. Jacky applies his computer skills as webmaster for the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and the student chapter of IEEE. Jacky is excited about his work with Eric Case developing web applications for a new software system called The University of Arizona Identity Provisioning System. Already a student leader, he serves as an Engeineering Ambassador and is Chair of the UA student chapter of Jacky demonstrates engineering excellence in his commitment to all he does.

Dr. Richard Kissling Spirit of Inquiry Scholarship

Haokun (Sam) Xu is the first recipient of the Richard Kissling Spirit of Inquiry award. Sam is a third- year Mathematics major who expects to graduate in May 2008. Sam has overcome some significant personal challenges to excel as a student at the University of Arizona. Sam is enthusiastic about the beauty and joy he experiences in mathematics and about how mathematics thinking is related to critical thinking. In his own life, Sam has been able to apply the learning of mathematical rigor to the development of his ability to state ideas and feelings with clarity and precision. Sam supports himself through college but doesn’t let that prevent him from being very engaged in the campus community. In particular, Sam is very active in the College of Science and the Math Department, serving as a College of Science Ambassador, a MathCat, an undergraduate teaching assistant for Abstract Algebra (Math 415A) and an undergraduate research assistant for Professor Nick Rogers studying elliptic curve theory. Sam is excited about the applications of these algorithms for cryptography and internet security. Professor Rogers says that “Some of the most interesting problems I’ve talked to him about have been of his own invention, because he’s always asking about ways to generalize past results, or different ways of thinking about the solutions. Sam is certainly one of the most talented undergraduates I’ve had the please of working with, and embodies the ‘spirit of inquiry’ as well as anyone I’ve known.” Sam sees his intellectual curiosity as a major characteristic motivating his journey towards becoming a mathematician

Andria Ligas Memorial Scholarship

Courtney Johnson was selected for the Andria Ligas Memorial Award. A junior graduating in May 2008, Courtney is majoring in both Journalism and German Studies. Courtney has a passion for foreign languages and has focused that passion on German. When Courtney exhausted her high school and community college offerings in Spanish, she set about teaching herself German, which she dove into enthusiastically when she reached the UA. One of her German professors, Peter Ecke, who oversaw her summer study abroad program in Leipzig, Germany, says, “Courtney is an outstanding student of German Studies. She is highly motivated, hard working, and bright, and has a genuine interest in the German language and cultures….She is an exceptional, independent and versatile young woman that truly lives the spirit of Andria Ligas. She is open to new endeavors, exploring and sharing her experiences with other languages and cultures.” She has a long list of other languages that she wants to learn in her lifetime. In addition to her love for language and culture (particularly German), Courtney has a passion for cross country running. Her running career began before her senior year of high school and continues today. Courtney believes that “if I could do nothing but run and speak in other languages every day for the rest of my life, I would be the happiest woman alive.” As an athlete and a lover of foreign languages and cultures, Courtney is following in the footsteps of Andria Ligas