SYMPOSIUM

Symposium Acknowledgements
Welcome to our annual UROP Spring Research Symposium, we are so happy you can join us as we celebrate the
work of our students in collaboration with faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and community
partners from all UM schools and colleges, non-profit organizations and government agencies.
Thank you to our sponsors who provide mentorship, share their enthusiasm, passion, and expertise with our
students, and take time to integrate our students into their research and scholarly activities giving them an
opportunity to expand their knowledge outside the classroom. Thanks to all of you who have taken on this vital
role and contributed to the success of our students.
I would like to acknowledge my incredible staff who make me happy to come to work each day. It takes
tremendous teamwork to put on this event and many others throughout the year. Our staff helps students
register, get paid on time, develop research skills, run our fellowship programs, send them to present their
research at national and international meetings, and so much more: Cyndy Kayden, Accountant; Charmise L.
Knox, Student Services Program Manager; Kenyon Richardson, Student Services Administrative Assistant; Jared
Schueren, Program Assistant; Jenna Steiner, Assistant Director; Catalina Ormsby, Associate Director; Mai Ze Vang,
Program Coordinator, Melissa Zochowski, Assistant Director, and our graduate student assistants Christopher Love
and Nathaly Ramirez. A special shout out goes to Jenna Steiner who scheduled all the presentations and a
bittersweet goodbye to Kenyon Richardson who will be leaving us in May to start her next exciting chapter in New
York City—we will greatly miss you.
UROP Peer Advisors
A special thank you goes out to our peer advisors who worked with our students all year to ensure they had
successful research experiences. These talented UROP alumni serve as mentors to our students and important
links to our research sponsors. They are tremendous role models as they help students navigate their academic
and research journey. Congratulations and best of luck to our graduating seniors: Tiffany Anthony, Freida
Blostein, Emmanuela Della Bosca, Adam Lundquist, Lanre Dawodu, Sourav Podder, Anna Pokriefka, Matthew
Rutkowski, Emma Saraff , Neha Thawami, Andrea Ventola, Lauren Donley, Mitchell Bieniek, Kelsey Danley, Sarah
Wagner, Shannon Kloberdanz, Malika Malik, Sohrab Vatsia, Andrew El-Alam, Chalem Bolton, Diana Jomaa, Thalia
Maya, Veronica Taylor, and McKenzie Campbell. We will also miss and send our best wishes to Elizabeth Kupser
and Emma Holloway as they finish their degree programs.
We look forward to the return next year of Rachel Bryan, Dalton Geraldo, Inara Ismailova, Sonalee Joshi, Rosemary
Kelley, Kevin Ma, Gnyapti Majmudar, Nohal Mekkaoui, Patrick Mullen-Coyoy, Trisha Ramsdell, Dulce Rios Ortiz,
and Emily Yerington.