News Round Up - Summer 2025
Congratulations to these scholars, who have received awards, experienced personal or professional success, or been recognized for their accomplishments during the first half of 2025.
Ben Awad, graduating senior, B.S. Physics
Selected as a College of Science and Mathematics’ Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist Nominee.
Ismael Abdullah Hernandez, graduating senior, B.S. Biology
Awarded Outstanding Oral Presentation at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “Modeling Traumatic Brain Injury in Drosophila melanogaster Through Behavioral and Lifespan Analyses.”
Huda Alazani, alumna (‘24), B.S. Political Science
Accepted to the University of California, Irvine School of Law.
Caleb Bahne, rising senior, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Awarded Outstanding Engineering Poster Presentation at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “End-Effector Design: Precision Citrus Harvesting with Controlled Stem Length.”
Awarded 1st Place Business Pitch at the 2025 Fresno State Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit.
Amanda Britter, graduating senior, B.A. Philosophy - Religious Studies Option
Received the 2025 Engaged Student Leader Award for the Western Region Continuums of Service Engagement Awards.
Marina (Flores) Carlson, alumna (‘19), B.S. Biochemistry
Graduated with her Ph.D in Neuroscience from Yale University.
Started a new position as Postdoctoral Research Development Fellow at Yale University within the Stefania Nicoli Lab, as part of the Cardiovascular Research Center.
Gurmannat Chalotra, rising senior, B.S. Biochemistry
Awarded American Chemical Society (ACS) Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “Development of Dehydroabietylamine Derivatives as Potential Androgen Receptor N-Terminal Domain Antagonists.”
Catie Corchado, graduating senior, B.S. Mathematics - Integrated Credential Option
Selected as a College of Science and Mathematics’s Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist Nominee.
Robert Cordova, alumnus (‘22), B.A. in East Asian Languages, Cultures and International Relations
Selected as the College of Social Science’s Graduate Dean’s Medalist.
Annika Garza, graduating senior, B.S. Business Administration - Marketing Option
Honorable Mention Poster Presentation Recipient at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “AI-Generated vs. Human-Generated Social Media Content's Effect on Purchase Intention.”
Giselle Gomez, rising sophomore, Pre-Business
Accepted to the Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (SIEML).
Alisa Gonzalez, rising junior, B.S. Biochemistry
Recipient of the Albert Montejano Memorial Scholarship for excellence in Community Service.
Eduardo González, graduating senior, B.A. Political Science
Presented at the Pi Sigma Alpha National Student Research Conference in Washington, D.C.
Elise Guerra, alumna (‘23), B.A. Speech-Language Pathology
Selected as the College of Health and Human Services’ Graduate Dean’s Medalist.
Selected as the Fresno State President’s Graduate Medalist, the highest academic honor that can be bestowed on a graduate student.
Joshua Heupel, alumnus (‘23), B.A. Political Science & B.A. Agricultural Education
Selected as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar at Stanford University while working towards a Ph.D in Environmental Social Sciences.
Parker Hill, continuing senior, B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Elected as a 2025-26 Fresno State ASI Senator At-Large.
Eliana Kahn, rising senior, B.S. Biochemistry
Awarded Outstanding Poster Presentation at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “Amide Temperature Coefficients for Structural Insights to the Kalata B1 Protein.”
Rawan Kiran, rising junior, B.A. History
Elected as a 2025-26 Fresno State ASI Senator At-Large.
Ann Kreuscher, alumna (‘22), B.A. Political Science
Wrote a piece titled "The Black Box: The FTC’s New Ability and Incentive Test for Vertical Mergers," that will soon be published as an article in the upcoming volume of St. Mary's Law Journal.
Celeste Jones, graduating senior, B.A. Mass Communication and Journalism - Advertising and Public Relations Option
Recipient of the Albert Montejano Memorial Scholarship for excellence in Community Service.
Leilani Jurena, graduating senior, B.A. Deaf Studies - Interpreting Option
Selected as a College of Health and Human Services’ Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist Nominee.
Yerali Lopez Torres, graduating senior, B.A. Economics
Selected as the Outstanding Student of Distinction by the Department of Economics.
Guadalupe Lopez Trejo, rising senior, B.S. Business Administration - Computer Information Systems Option
Accepted to the Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (SIEML).
Rachel Mancebo, graduating senior, B.S. Agricultural Education - Teacher Preparation Option
Recipient of the Albert Montejano Memorial Scholarship for excellence in Community Service.
Victor Martinez-Ambriz, graduating senior, B.A. History
Selected as the Outstanding Student of Distinction by the Department of History.
Hannah Mettee, rising senior, B.S. Biochemistry
Honorable Mention Poster Presentation Recipient at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “Reinforcement-learning-guided Automated Design of MRI-based Dopamine Sensors.”
Noah Reed Miranda, rising senior, B.A. English Literature Option; B.A. History
Awarded Outstanding Oral Presentation at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “Playing with Orientalism in How to Host a Murder's Hoo Hung Wu.”
Morgan Musser, graduating senior, B.S. Kinesiology - Exercise Science Option
Selected as a College of Health and Human Services’ Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist Nominee.
Evelyn Ornelas, rising senior, B.A. Political Science; B.A. Philosophy
Elected as the 2025-26 Fresno State ASI Senator of Social Sciences.
Paige Ounesavath, rising senior, B.S. Human Nutritional Sciences
Awarded Outstanding Poster Presentation at the 46th Annual Central California Research Symposium (CCRS) for presentation titled “Association of MC4R Gene Variants with Basal Metabolic Rate, Liver Function, and Lipid Profile in Overweight and Obese Students at California State University, Fresno.”
Mellica Piri, rising junior, Pre-Nursing
Presented at the Society or Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) 2025 Annual Meeting.
Kate Richardson, graduating junior, B.A. Political Science
Selected as the Outstanding Student of Distinction by the Department of Political Science.
Camalah Saleh, rising senior, B.A. Political Science & B.A. Communications
Elected as the 2025-26 Fresno State ASI President.
Accepted to the Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (SIEML).
Finalist for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship.
Accepted to the PPIA/NextGen Service Summer Academy at UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy.
Komal Sandhu, graduating senior, B.S. Civil Engineering
Selected as the Lyle’s College of Engineering’s Undergraduate Dean's Medalist.
Accepted to UC Davis’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Master’s Program.
Shailey Shah, graduating senior, B.S. Biology
Received the 2025 Engaged Student Leader Award for the Western Region Continuums of Service Engagement Awards.
Allison Vang, rising senior, B.A. Psychology
Elected as the 2025-26 Fresno State ASI Senator of the College of Science and Mathematics.
Emily Vang, rising senior, B.A. Communicative Sciences - Speech-Language Pathology Option
Recipient of the Albert Montejano Memorial Scholarship for excellence in Community Service.
Francine Velasco, graduating senior, B.S. Architectural Studies
Selected as a Lyle’s College of Engineering’s Undergraduate Dean’s Medalist Nominee.
Danielle Vu, rising senior, B.A. Sociology
Elected as the 2025-26 Fresno State ASI Vice President of External Affairs.
Presented her honors thesis at the 2025 Central California Research Symposium titled, “Gender-Affirming Care is Life-Affirming Care: Transgender Patient Experiences with Discrimination in Healthcare Settings.”
Selected as an intern for the Columbia University Summer Research Program.
Named a 2025-2026 Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar, which provides a $5,000 scholarship to support the academic and professional development of future Ph.D applicants.
Attended the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Conference (NARST) in Washington, D.C., with Dr. Emily Walter's Biology Education and STEM Student Success Lab.