L to R: Meredith Bara, Parnian Riaz, Peggy Jankovic, and Dean of Science Jonathan Schaeffer
Neuroscience grad Parnian Riaz has won the Lieutenant-Governor's Gold Medal-awarded to the graduating student with the highest distinction in scholarship from an honours program. For her stellar academic performance and a straight 4.0 throughout her studies, Parnian has also been awarded one of only three of the University of Alberta's Governor General's Silver Medals, the University of Alberta's most prestigious academic award.
Originally from Peace River, Parnian says she first became interested in neuroscience after learning about the nervous system in her Bio 30 class. She's never looked back, she finds the intricacies of the brain endlessly fascinating, and enjoys Neuroscience because it covers so many disciplines from pharmacology to physics.
The highlights of her time as an undergrad were the people-professors and fellow students who inspired her, mentored her, and who have become her best friends. She also appreciates the opportunity she had to do undergrad research on stroke neuroimaging-which she presented at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego, CA last February.
Parnian has been accepted into medicine at the U of A for September 2014.
Congratulations Parnian!
Peggy Jankovic has won this year's Gold Medal in Science for the highest academic distinction for a graduating student in a specialization program. Peggy has had an interest in the sciences since she was able to crawl around the astronomy section of the public library, and eventually fell in love with mathematics' abstraction and its powerful applications.
Through her specialization studies in Mathematics, she's enjoyed "some wonderful mathematical topics"-noting abstract algebra as a particular highlight in her studies and in her research.
Some of her fondest memories during her time as a student were her experiences at the Canadian Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, where she presented her own research and met like-minded young mathematicians from across Canada.
This fall, Peggy will be starting her Master's studies in Mathematics, here at the University of Alberta.
Beyond academics, she hopes to work with programs offering support to women in math, science, and other male-dominated fields.
Congratulations, Peggy and we'll be glad to see you back in the fall!
Meredith Bara is this year's recipient of the Dean's Gold Medal in Science, awarded to the graduating student from the general program with the highest distinction in scholarship.
With a 4.0 average throughout her studies, science was always Meredith's favourite subject in school-especially biology. She's loved studying science in more depth as an undergrad these past four years, taking classes in genetics, immunology, pharmacology and biochemistry.
She also really enjoyed the chance to do summer research projects and work with the friends she made while in the Faculty.
Meredith is looking forward to applying science in the years to come, as she starts medical school at the U of A in the fall.
Congratulations, Meredith!
In addition to these three accomplished students, 49 additional students from this year's graduating class were also awarded silver medals.
Congratulation to all of 2014 Science Medal Winners!