Rishi

Rishi Batra hails from Omaha, Nebraska and is a Biochemistry major.  Rishi stays active on campus in a number of different organizations. He has been a participant in and a teaching assistant for the Pepsi Service Scholars, an organization that selects forty incoming students annually to promote service on the UNL campus and around the Lincoln community. He is also a Peer Mentor Leader for the University Honors Program, helping freshman honors students make the transition from high school to college. As a member of the Student Alumni Association Board of Directors, he helps organize campus-wide student events and helps maintain alumni relations, while helping uphold the traditions of UNL. This past spring, he was selected as one of thirteen juniors chosen for the 104th Class of the Innocents Society, the Chancellor’s Senior Honorary based on academic excellence, campus leadership, and selfless service. Currently, he serves on the Beta Theta Pi Executive Team serving as Philanthropy Chair.

Michelle

Michelle Lee of Omaha, NE always knew that she was destined to be a Husker. Now that she’s a senior, it’s hard for her to believe that her UNL experience is coming to a close. Michelle will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and minors in Economics, Mathematics, Psychology, and Entomology. She’s well rounded academically, and if that’s not enough, she has a slew of extra-curricular activities to occupy her time. She takes the word “involvement” to a whole new level by taking time to participate in her sorority, the Panhellenic Executive Council, ASUN, Teach for America, and the Honors Program (her favorite), while assuming leadership roles in many of those activities.

Last summer, Michelle was just as busy off-campus as she is on, and her experience was nothing short of dynamic. She spent the first half of her time working for U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel in Washington, D.C., an exciting place considering the current political times. The second half of her summer was spent in Tanzania doing honors thesis research. She hopes to complete the project, which involves HIV knowledge in Africa and the U.S.’ investment in HIV education, within the next year.

Michelle’s UNL involvement, and more specifically the work she has done because of her Honors involvement, has allowed this Husker to explore to her desire. Her wishes for you? “The Honors Program has played an integral part in my success at UNL and I hope that it plays the same role for you!”

Sammi

What do UCARE, NSE, the Cather Circle, Chi Omega Sorority and the Honors Program have in common? Junior, Sammi Mosier participates in all of them. Hailing from Woodland Park, Colorado, Sammi has certainly made her UNL experience enriching. From holding various leadership roles within her activities, to taking the time to organize and volunteer for programs like the Big Event, she has molded her learning experience into one of diversity. She has been able to take what she has learned and apply it to helping new students at UNL as a 2008 NSE Orientation Leader.  Sammi was able to have a wonderful summer job, and work with great people.  Not only did she get to help others, but she made friends and memories doing it.

Last summer was even more eventful for Sammi off-campus, as she took advantage of the CBA Oxford study abroad program at Jesus College in Oxford, England.  Sammi called her four weeks spent in Oxford amazing.  Her experience not only allowed her to study on a foreign campus, but also allowed her to engage in extra activities like Shakespeare Theater, horse racing, and punting on the Thames River.

Sammi is a junior Business Administration major, with Communication Studies and Psychology minors.

Ryan

From an engineering standpoint, senior Ryan Roemich has his UNL experience made.  He's graduating in May with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Systems Engineering and plans to head to graduate school next year.  Ryan is involved in the Honors Program as well as several other organizations on campus, including the Biomedical Engineering Society (in which he currently serves as Vice President), the Honors Program Student Advisory Board, the Honors Program Peer Mentor Leaders, Omicron Delta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, and Engineering Delegates.  Outside of school, Ryan is into the usual college stuff - movies, music, and sports.  He spent his summer in Chicago doing medical imaging research at the Illinois Institute of Technology. 

Ryan has engineered his UNL experience to be one that opens doors, and provides opportunities to grow and enjoy oneself at the same time.  Ryan, "wish(es) you a great future in the Honors Program...I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have."

Mechanical Engineering major Evan Luxon of Omaha enjoys biking, golfing, lazy Sundays, and designing cold temperature thermal tests to classify the performance of motor and gearbox mechanisms at extremely cold temperatures for the next generation of robotics missions to space. Oh, yeah- he likes camping too.

Evan had the opportunity to work in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) just outside of Los Angeles, California last summer.  He was one of 100 students selected for the program, and his ten-week stay allowed him to learn an incredible amount and work closely with top engineering students from across the country.  The work done at the JPL is aimed at "pushing the outer edge of exploration," and Evan certainly had the ability to push himself during his time spent in California.

Evan plans to attend graduate school next year, and would like someday to work in the biomedical realm of engineering. 

Kristin

Kristin Brotan is a senior Biological Sciences and Biochemistry double major form Las Cruces, NM. Currently, she is in the process of applying to pharmacy school, and she would eventually like to work in a hospital.  Kristin is getting hands-on experience working toward her goal now, as she volunteers in an emergency room and at a health clinic for people in need. 

Volunteering her time at hospitals and clinics isn't the only way Kristin gives back to the community.  She helps with The Big Event, a huge service project that takes place on campus.

Kristin loves being involved on campus in general, and she takes time to serve as the director of scholarship in her sorority and to work as a teaching assistant conducting parasitological research.  She also serves as the Arts and Sciences Student Advisory Board Treasurer and sits on the College of Arts and Science Curriculum Committee.