Each semester, UM-Dearborn honors a very select group of students from each college with the Dean’s Medallion Award, with the top graduate among the group receiving the Chancellor’s Medallion. Chosen by faculty from their respective colleges, the Fall 2022 Medallion winners are being recognized for their outstanding quality of character, vitality, intellect, integrity and academic records.
Timothy BattTimothy Batt is earning a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and an undergraduate certificate in Professional Language and Cross Cultural Studies with high distinction. Tim has been an active researcher on campus, working with Assistant Professor Tian An Wong on rational triangle and cyclic quadrilateral pairs with equal perimeter and area. Tim and Professor Wong resolved a question posed by Zhang, Peng and Wang in their 2018 paper, “Integral Triangles and Trapezoids Pairs with a Common Area and a Common Perimeter,” and Tim gave a presentation on the three researchers’ work in the Mathematics Colloquium this fall. Tim also participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program in Summer 2021 with two other students, directed by Professor John Clifford, on the numerical range of a composition operator on the Hardy space. Tim contributed to talks on this joint work at the Young Mathematicians Conference and the Summer Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at Ohio State and Michigan State, respectively, and their work is being readied for publication. He also co-authored a piece in UM-Dearborn’s Wolverzine on his experience with the REU.
Tim has participated in math competitions as a part of UM-Dearborn’s second place team at the Autumn Challenge and third place team at the Lower Michigan Math Competition. Tim also works as a tutor in the Math Learning Center.
Tim has volunteered to coordinate the UM-Dearborn Maize and Blue Math Circle, an outreach activity for middle and high school students, and Math Corps, a summer program for middle school students. He has also volunteered at Railside Assisted Living Center. During Math Corps, Tim worked especially closely with students who were one or more grade levels behind in their mathematical education, and it was observed that these students made great progress thanks to him. Several faculty members noted that Tim does not have a car and rode his bike from Dearborn to Westland for Math Corps every day of the month-long program. One faculty member described Tim as “the student every teacher hopes for.” Another stated, “I can say that he is the most intellectually honest student I have ever met.”
Aya ChahineAya Chahine is receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Psychology with high distinction. She is graduating with University Honors and the James B. Angell Award for her academic achievements.
Aya has conducted extensive research on brain cancer with Associate Professor Kalyan Kondapalli, studying how Grade IV glioblastoma cells scavenge iron from the microenvironment to aid their growth. Her work is significant because it explores a potential approach to cripple GBM/cancer propagation by targeting iron regulation within hyperactive, tumor-specific pathways. This research is being prepared for publication with Professor Kondapalli. Aya is also active in off-campus research and was selected for a Neuropsychology Research Internship at Michigan Medicine. There, she aided data collection and conducted literature research to examine the relationship between documented errors in driving and the propensity to develop multiple sclerosis.
Aya has worked off campus in the medical field. Locally, she worked as a medical assistant and manager for several years. She has also conducted medical field rotations overseas, including multiple OB/GYN shifts at the leading hospital in Beirut and multiple overnight shifts at the pediatric unit of the only UN-funded hospital in Beirut.
Aya has been active in several student organizations. She serves as the vice president of finance and philanthropy for the UM-Dearborn chapter of the international medical fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon. She also serves as the vice president of the UM-Dearborn chapter of Active Minds, a nonprofit dedicated to mental health awareness and breaking down stigmas, and the UM-Dearborn chapter of buildOn, an international nonprofit aiming to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. Off campus, Aya is a certified shelter volunteer at Friends for Animals Metro Detroit and she has been a science tutor at an orphanage in Beirut. Aya’s career goal is a dual M.D.-Ph.D.
Mark Boyanowski Mark Boyanowski is earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics with a minor in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Screen Studies with a concentration in Screen Studies, with high distinction. He earned University Honors in 2020 and 2021 and was selected as the Math Honors Scholar in 2022 and JASS Honors Scholar in 2021.
Mark excels in both quantitative and creative fields, and frequently seeks to combine both in his studies as well as in his future career path. In his Audio Production class, for instance, he produced a short documentary about his father’s hobby building model airplanes, which covered the technical process involved in designing such planes while creating a compelling, sound-rich narrative. The piece later won an award in the Writing in Image and Sound category of CASL’s annual Writing Awards. He also worked on a project with Mathematics Professor John Clifford on Blaschke Products, Poncelet Curves and Symmetrical Numerical Ranges, the results of which are soon to be submitted for publication.
In summer 2022, Mark held an internship at M1 Studios where he served as a video editor. A short piece he produced on the Michigan Humane Society’s rescue of two kittens gained over 1.6 million views on its Facebook page. Mark’s Narrative Journalism professor, Benjamin Wielechowski, praised Mark as a bright and talented student who wasn’t afraid to challenge him on certain aspects of storytelling and writing.
Outside of class, Mark has taken part in competitive cubing—solving puzzles like the Rubik’s cube as quickly as possible. In 2019, he broke a world record in the 3x3 Fewest Moves category.
Justin M. Bailey Justin Bailey will receive a Bachelor of Business Administration degree dual majoring in Accounting and Finance with high distinction. He was on the Dean’s List multiple semesters and earned an invitation to join Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society.
Justin came to UM-Dearborn after a decade away from formal education. With the support of his wife and young son, he balanced his college classes with a full-time career in the mortgage industry. Justin took 12–18 credits of courses each term over the past four years to reach his goal of quickly earning 150 credits to sit for the CPA exam.
Justin fully engaged in both work and class. One of his recommendation writers — a business colleague — said, “He is a true team player, always looking for ways to advance the team forward in a productive and positive way.” A faculty member also said his collegiality is impressive: “He comes to each class excited to master new material and apply the knowledge gained. He is extremely gregarious, considerate and kind to everyone.”
In addition to working full time and taking a full load of courses, Justin volunteers in the community. He is particularly passionate about fly fishing and his work with Trout Unlimited. He also volunteers with Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners to provide food for families in need and delivers holiday gifts and food for local families through Goodfellows.
Justin is preparing to complete the CPA exam and has accepted a full-time position as an auditor with Baker Tilly. He will start in January.
Anna SavageAnna Savage will receive a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Information Systems Management with high distinction. She was the recipient of the William J. Branstrom Award, the Metropolitan Scholarship, and the Jeffrey and Donna Smith Scholarship. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society and was named to the Dean’s List multiple semesters.
Anna engaged in many campus opportunities during her time at UM-Dearborn. She has been a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Co-ed Business Fraternity all four of her college years and is currently the organization’s vice president of administration. In this role, she oversees the fraternity’s eight committees and their events, activities and fundraisers.
She is also a member of Beta Alpha Psi Honor Society and has worked with U-M’s Information and Technology Services at the Ann Arbor Tech Shop. One of her professors commented, “I would trust Anna to work alongside me on almost any research or personal task because of how I assess her integrity. My sense is that she will quickly report mishaps or mistakes, and will ask questions if she is unsure. She would be an extremely valuable collaborator.”
Anna worked as an intern at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. There, she project managed a multimillion dollar and multiyear project to migrate their varied information technology systems to a centralized system to manage all aspects of their data. Her manager stated, “I have worked with many interns over the years. I have been thrilled to see many of my former interns rise to great heights in the corporate world. It is no hyperbole to state that I have never seen an intern so instantly make such a positive and dramatic impact on an organization.”
Following graduation, Anna will continue as a project manager at the Community Foundation and work toward earning Project Management Professional and Agile project management certifications.
Elise Ambriz Elise Ambriz will receive a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering with high distinction. Her academic honors include a Dean’s Merit Scholarship, a Phi Theta Kappa transfer scholarship, University Honors in 2020-21, four semesters on the Dean’s List and graduating with her earned (M)Talent Distinction.
Outside the classroom, Elise has worked on campus as a research assistant, tagging thermal images of faces to help software recognize facial structures; a technical producer, testing software, recording walkthroughs and writing scripts to replace outdated course material; a supplemental instruction leader, structuring lesson plans employing different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy to better convey lesson material; and a supplemental instruction backend, processing software help tickets and developing software improvement plans. She also held a position as a technical co-op student at DENSO, working on automation testing within a large client-facing project.
A Computer and Information Science faculty member notes that Elise is one of the best software engineering students he has ever taught and describes her as very creative, demonstrating leadership and organization skills on her project teams, and delivering first rate work. Following graduation, Elise plans to continue working in software engineering. She is also interested in pursuing a master’s degree in bioinformatics.
Aidan Boyer Aidan Boyer will receive Bachelor of Science degrees in both Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering with high distinction. He is also enrolled in the 4+1 accelerated master’s in bioengineering program. He is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship and is a James B. Angell Scholar. He received University Honors in 2020-21 while making the Dean’s List for eight semesters.
Through the Experiential Honors program, Aidan has worked with faculty to build a tool in MATLAB, a mathematical computing, simulation and analysis platform, to automatically identify, classify and solve instabilities in iterative Surface Evolver microfluidics simulations of microdropletsurface interactions. He is currently working on a faculty-led project to design, fabricate and test a micro-hydrocyclone for algae separation. In summer 2022, Aidan completed a co-op at Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. in Ann Arbor as a tech associate. Aidan’s additional involvements include the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, the Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society and the Biomedical Engineering Society.
Faculty praise Aidan’s excellent academic performance in several traditionally challenging courses and highlight his exceptionally high academic abilities, work ethic and inquisitiveness. His Experiential Honors guided study advisor spoke highly of Aidan’s interest in scientific research, his high productivity and his professionalism. After completing his undergraduate degrees, Aidan expects to graduate with a Master of Science in Engineering in Bioengineering in August 2023. He plans to continue working in southeast Michigan’s flourishing biotechnology sector.
Katherine Gonzalez HauswedellKatherine Gonzalez Hauswedell will receive a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Industrial and Systems Engineering with high distinction. Katherine transferred to UM-Dearborn from Schoolcraft College with an outstanding academic record and accomplishments.
Her academic honors include the 2020 Schoolcraft College Clarence C. Jones Excellence in Science Award, the Adnan Aswad Scholarship, University Honors in 2019-20 and three semesters on the Dean’s List. Katherine and her team were the winners of the People’s Choice Award at Dow Chemical Company’s 2022 Createathon Innovation and Sustainability competition. Katherine’s involvements include the University of Michigan Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Alpha Pi Mu Industrial Engineering Honor Society and the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.
Katherine completed an internship with the Dow Chemical Company in summer 2022 and a co-op with DTE Energy in winter 2022. She completed a research assistantship at UM-Ann Arbor in the summer of 2020, helping a faculty member and his research team study Spanish-English bilingual children and their language and reading development using functional MRI scanning, functional near-infrared spectroscopy and behavioral methods.
Katherine’s volunteer activities include participating in product collection during the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, trash recollection at the Chippewa Nature Center, Chippewa River cleaning and tutoring girls in STEM.
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering faculty speak highly of Katherine’s collegiality and leadership skills. They describe her as an exceptional student who has also provided outstanding service to her community.
After receiving her degree, Katherine plans to work as an engineering consultant or in a role aligned to supply chain. She would like to support business innovation and transformation through the integration of new technologies.
Audrey Asgarally Audrey Asgarally is receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education with Elementary Certification with high distinction. She was a James B. Angell Scholar during the 2021-22 academic year, has been on the Dean’s List since 2018 and earned University Honors in the 2021-22 school year. As a member of the UM-Dearborn softball team, she earned an athletic scholarship all four years of her attendance. She was named to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference All-Academic Team and was a Daktronics NAIA Scholar Athlete from 2019 to 2022. Audrey was also selected as an Honor’s Scholar by the Department of Education for the Early Childhood program.
As part of her teacher certification program, Audrey has completed several field placements in K–12 schools and is finishing her academic career with a student teaching internship at Bemis Elementary. Audrey has already accepted a long-term substitute teaching position for a second-grade classroom. She will start in January 2023.
Audrey helped launch the Experience+ tutoring program during the summer of 2021 to help provide students with extra academic support. This program offered virtual tutoring for students and Audrey worked specifically with kindergarten, first and second grade children. Audrey also served as a college mentor her senior year for two first-year UM-Dearborn students.
Audrey’s beliefs about education stem from her experiences as a child, where education was prioritized and embraced. As a teacher, she plans to work in partnership with her students to develop positive relationships, engage in collaboration and promote critical thinking. She is looking forward to using her effective communication skills with the children and families she serves to build a learning community that embraces all children. Through her experiences working with children of all backgrounds, she is well positioned to make connections and lasting relationships so that each child can become a contributing member of society by utilizing the skills gained in her classroom.
Mariam Bazzi Mariam Bazzi is receiving her Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Services with a concentration in Pre-Health, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with high distinction. She was a James B. Angell Scholar in 2021 and 2022, earned the William J. Branstrom Prize in 2020, and received University Honors and Dean’s List recognition every semester of attendance at UM-Dearborn. She also received the Chancellor’s Tuition Scholarship and was given a service award for her work with the Mentor Collective.
As part of her coursework, Mariam completed internships with Williams, Williams, Rattner, and Plunkett, PC and the HYPE SAFE Coalition. She has also served as a board member in charge of coordinating events for the Fresh Start Organization. Mariam has worked as a tutor with Detroit Educational Opportunities and with UM-Dearborn’s tutoring initiative for the children of faculty and staff. In this role, she tutored a wide range of students from kindergarten to high school in subjects ranging from English to science to SAT prep. She provided academic support to her peers as a supplemental instruction leader for a CEHHS statistics course for two semesters and worked as a Mentor Collective Wolverine Mentor for multiple semesters.
Mariam pursued her CEHHS degree with the hopes of entering the medical field, and then discovered more about her identity and ideals. This led her to pursue a psychology degree as an aspiring pre-law student. Over the past year, she made an additional switch to pre-teaching. She plans to apply to UM-Dearborn’s Master of Arts in Teaching program in the summer of 2023, with the hopes of becoming an influential secondary English teacher serving the adolescents of her community.
Sarah Khaleefah Sarah Khaleefah is completing her Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Services with a concentration in Pre-Health Professions with high distinction. She was a James B. Angell Scholar in 2022 and earned University Honors from 2020 to 2022. Sarah was also on the Dean’s List consecutively from Fall 2019 through Winter 2022 and received the Impact Victors full tuition scholarship. In 2022, she was named a UM-Dearborn Difference Maker.
Sarah has engaged in several research activities, including participating in the 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience. In the Fall 2021 and Winter 2022 semesters, she worked as an independent study student on an Islamic bioethics research project and presented at the 2022 Eastern Michigan University undergraduate philosophy conference. She was also part of the Emergency Medicine Research Associate Program, conducting clinical research at St. Mary Mercy Hospital.
Sarah is the current president of the Women in Learning and Leadership organization on campus, which works to promote and advocate for women’s issues, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, and plans events to foster community engagement. She also served for two years as a board member for the youth group at her local mosque, where they held events focusing on the needs of Muslim youth in the community. In 2020 and 2021, Sarah worked as a UM-Dearborn student orientation leader and as a CEHHS office assistant during that same time. She is currently the vice president of Our Generation’s Keeper, a student organization that focuses on connecting UM-Dearborn students with Middle Eastern and North African middle and high schoolers to serve as their tutors and mentors. In her work with this organization, she has been a mentor to students at Salina Intermediate School and is now tutoring at Dearborn High School.
After graduation, Sarah plans to attend medical school. Regardless of where she may end up next, she plans to continue dedicating her time to organizations like those she has served at UM-Dearborn.
