Congratulations, University Honors Program Graduates!

The staff of the University Honors Program wishes to extend its congratulations to the graduating class of 2023! You’ve worked hard to achieve your goals at NC State and we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

A big shout out also goes to Osaretin Asemota for speaking on behalf and in encouragement of her fellow graduates during the Senior Recognition Ceremony for Honors Program graduates on May 3! During this ceremony, Yosi Esquivel Alcantara was recognized for earning the Alex Miller Outstanding Student Award, which recognizes a graduating program participant who has exhibited a significant commitment to the Honors Program and its students — someone who has had a real impact on the program and left it better.

After a record number of faculty mentor nominations, seven graduates were recognized with Blanton Awards for their commitment to the research and scholarship mission of the University Honors Program. The Richard L. Blanton Outstanding Capstone Award is named for the first permanent director of the University Honors Program, who is currently professor of plant and microbial biology and director of graduate programs in plant biology. The award recognizes exceptional work by University Honors Program students and encourages the highest levels of undergraduate scholarship and research at NC State.

This semester’s seven Blanton Award recipients and their capstone projects were: 

• Seth Kodikara, “Application of a Yeast Surface Display System to Study Differential Acetylation of Histone Tail Variants”
• Sophie Korenek, “Characterizing the Role of UGDH Phosphorylation by the AGC Kinase RPS6KA2”
• Audrey May Lucas, “A Dozen Years of the Affordable Care Act: An Assessment”
• Kelsey O’Connor, “Student-Athlete Mental Health During Transition of Sport”
• Eelya Sefat, “Development of Biosynthetic Noggin-Coated Corneal Bandage for Treatment of Indolent Corneal Ulceration”
• Elias Zauscher, “Modeling Water Use Changes in a Hybrid Water System with Micro-Trading in Perth, Australia”
• Nicole Zwennes, “Characterization of Surgical Glue Made Using Fibrin Based Nanoparticles”

To graduate from the University Honors Program with Honors Recognition, students admitted to the program prior to the fall 2022 semester have to complete the following criteria: 

• One semester of Honors Forum
• Six credit hours of Honors seminars 
• Six additional credit hours of approved advanced Honors coursework 
• Design and publicly present either a Capstone project (undergraduate research) or a digital portfolio
• Maintain a GPA of 3.25 or higher for the duration of their college career

The University Honors Program awards the following spring 2023 graduates with Honors Recognition:

Anisah Ahmed

Samuel Aklilu

Nikhil Ankolkar

Osaretin Asemota

Barrett Awere

Haris Azeem

Kimberly Barrera-Gutierrez

Kathryn Benedict

Jack Bishop

Priscilla Boaheng

Campbell Bratton

Cate Brewer

Nia Brown

Alicia Bullough

Colin Burn

Anusha Chandra

Ryan Charrette

Gabriella Chiarenza

Lindsey Kate Childs

Sarah Costello

Corissa Cronkite

Catherine Denisowski

Yosi Esquivel Alcantara

Elena Fabian

Abby Finan

Madelyn Flores

Ariana Nadaja Frazier

Ethan Frey

Daniel Friday

Sigfried Fullenkamp

Geoffrey Fylak

Frances Gillespie

Tyler Glatt

Mackenzie Gosnell

Elizabeth Lauren Gray

Michael Hatcher

Olivia Howell

Nupur Jain

Carmen Jarrell

Sadhana Jayanth

Carson Stewart Jenkins

Chase Jenquin

Megan Johannes

Jaylen Kye Jones

Vignes KanchanadeviVenkataraman

Hans Khatri

Jean Kim

Seth Prasanna Kodikara

Aditya Konidena

Abigail Korenek

Sophie Korenek

Dillon Kotecha

Manasi Krishnakumar

Anna Leonard

Emma Litra

Audrey May Lucas

Ta’Kia Lucas

Anysha Luna

Harini Mahesh

AJ Mathur

Julia Mattox

Colton McAllister

Kelsi McKiddy

Catelyn Meredith

Preston Meredith

Alissa Meyerhoffer

Madelyn Milazzo

Zac Miles

Ali Myers

Christina Nguyen

Lillian Nguyen

Abina Nimalashanthan

Brodie Nishan

Helen Nocito

Kelsey O’Connor

Ryan Ording

Chaterlee Pamintuan

Anvita Charudatta Panajkar

Dheeraj Pannem

Aashu Ram Parajuli

Nidhi Patel

Priyanj Patel

Alex Payne

Bry Payne

Alyssa Pederson

Bailey Pelt

Samantha Pendergrass

Henry Pinyan

Travis Pipes

Kayla Porter

Maddie Posse

Megan Pyne

Gayathri Ramanathan

Max Ring

Megan Rossi

Kunal Saboo

Lilli Salvador

Siddharth Samal

Olivia Samuelson

Nate Schaefer

Grace Schubert

Olivia Scott

Eelya Sefat

John Siddiqui

Ashley Stanfield

Sommer Stephens

Mason Alexander Streppa

Nico Swanson Villares

Elisabeth Mary Swinson

Sean Taylor

Helen Tran

Brenna Tryon

Aarya Upadhyaya

Will Vestal

Jennifer Wang

Annie Kate Watson

Eli Windsor

Ansley Youst

Elias Zauscher

Noha Zayan

Nicole Zwennes