Congratulations to the 2021 Outstanding Neuro Senior Award Winners

Congratulations Class of 2021!

Every May, as the spring semester comes to a close, the neuroscience faculty honor the program’s exceptional graduating seniors in the Outstanding Neuroscience Student Awards ceremony with friends and family. Although we were still unable to hold an in-person event again this year, we held a virtual celebration for all of the students graduating in spring and summer 2021 with a BS in Neuroscience. Thank you to all who attended the event! 

Message from Dr. Saleet Jafri, Director of Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience

Dear Honored Graduates, families, colleagues and friends,

It is my honor to congratulate the Neuroscience graduates on their outstanding achievements. I know you all have worked hard through your time here at Mason and made many fond memories. Those of you receiving awards – you have proven yourself to be cream of the crop of very talented and dedicated neuroscience students. I appreciate the flexibility and resilience all of you have shown in our rapid migration to online education. I want to thank all of you for making this transition possible. Finally, I once more would like to congratulate all you on your achievements and graduation. I am sure all of you have bright futures ahead. Good luck and I hope you will let us know of your future successes.

Outstanding Neuroscience Senior Award

Given to majors with a cumulative 3.5 GPA with at least 60 credits at Mason

Tahreem Abbas
Aya Abdelhalim
Shanzeh Aftab
Afaq Barakzai
Daniella Flamenco
Ahilla Ghannouchi
Maya Godambe
Saisruthi Kannan
Hufsa Khan
Asma Khurshid
Gawri Mohannon Nair
Samira Naeem
Abbas Qizilbash
David Park
Rebecca Roy
Malek Salhab
Shawal Tariq

Outstanding Academic Achievement in Neuroscience Award 
Given to the student with the highest GPA
Sahar Rizwan (3.99)
Malek Salhab (3.99)

Faculty Choice Award 
This award is designed to reward the senior neuroscience major who demonstrates an exceptionally high degree of interest, maturity, motivation, and effort in his/her neuroscience classes. The primary focus of this award is the attitude of the nominated student. In determining the recipient of this award, personal challenges or circumstances that the student has had to overcome can be considered.

Samuel Blouir
Nominated by Dr. Jennifer Brielmaier

Sam was a student in my NEUR 335 and PSYC 373 lab courses. In both of these courses, Sam stood out among his peers for his curiosity and his willingness to learn and help others. Before COVID-19 hit, NEUR 335 was run as a hybrid course with once per week meetings dedicated to group work. Sam was an enthusiastic participant in the group activities and class discussions. On multiple occasions I observed him helping other students understand the material and he always asked great questions during the class sessions. After each class session the students had to complete written reflections, and one of the requirements was to ask a question. Sam's questions always went well beyond the course topics and I often had to turn to the literature in order to answer them. I was impressed with the way he would learn something about a topic and then be able to formulate questions that really got right to the heart of what we do and don't know about that topic.   The PSYC 373 lab was mainly focused on sheep brain and cow eye dissections. Students had to confer with peers before turning in their final lab reports. Once again Sam went well beyond the minimum to help out classmates who were confused. Sam was also a regular visitor to office hours where he would ask questions about neuroscience research. He was always thinking about research ideas. When COVID hit, Sam became involved in making medical grade respirators and face shields for a hospital near Los Angeles, and offered them to his former professors who might be teaching in person.  Sam has had to overcome some personal challenges during his time at Mason, making his achievements, motivation, and focus on others that much more impressive. Congratulations to Sam.

Deama Habibi
Nominated by Dr. Theodore Dumas
Deama is an outstanding classroom student and citizen at Mason. She serves as the President for the Registered Student Organization, Cure Mental Illness (CMI), that is devoted to increasing awareness of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the need for more research and research funding. She has created and overseen numerous events for CMI including a webinar on suicide in college students and a very popular weekly yoga session. She is perceptive to the needs of her local community and dedicated to help fill those needs.