- University News Archive - 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/tag/arooba-ilyas/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:41:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock grad ready to take next step in research, community, and med school /news-archive/2019/06/12/arooba-ilyas-grad/ Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:41:57 +0000 /news/?p=74525 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock grad ready to take next step in research, community, and med school]]> With a father as a doctor and an older sister in medical school, being a doctor would seem the obvious choice for Arooba Ilyas, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biology.聽 鈥淓ver since I was little, just seeing how happy my dad, a pediatric nephrologist (kidney doctor for kids), is and how many people he gets to help is inspiring,鈥 she said. 鈥淓ver since I was little, I thought I would be a doctor. When I get into high school, something about marine biology piqued my interest.鈥 Choosing 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock was an easy choice for Ilyas. She was familiar with campus since she conducted research with 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock professors in high school. Her older sister graduated from 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and was a member of the Donaghey Scholars program. Ilyas was thrilled when she was also accepted to the program, which covers her tuition, fees, computer, housing, and study abroad experience. 鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock really stood out to me,鈥 she said. 鈥淚n high school, I worked with faculty from the Chemistry Department, and I got to see how willing 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock is to promote research in youth. That is something I am very passionate about, since I think it is important to expand young minds. Since my sister was in the Donaghey Scholars program, I know that they really help students to become who they are during college.鈥 Ilyas started at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in fall 2015 as a biology major with no plans to enter medicine, but those plans quickly changed. 鈥淚 came into college saying I鈥檓 not pre-med, but I really gained a passion for medicine working as a volunteer in the 糖心Vlog传媒MS Emergency Department,鈥 Ilyas said. 鈥淚 realized that I didn鈥檛 want to be a doctor just because I wanted to be like my dad.鈥 While at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, Ilyas has been passionate about educating the public about world cultures and developing services in the Muslim community. Ilyas鈥 parents are from Pakistan, and she is a first-generation American college student. As part of the Muslim Student Association, she helped organize the World Hijab Day celebration on campus as well as a multicultural fashion show. 鈥淲orld Hijab Day is Feb. 1, and we encourage people to wear scarves to step into the world of a hijabi woman. I put on the hijab in ninth grade, and I remember getting so many stares when I was walking down the hallway,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f people are looking at me, I realized I can be an example of what a Muslim is instead of what Muslims are perceived as. And the multicultural fashion show is a way for us to get in touch with different cultures on campus.鈥 In the community, she volunteers with the Islamic Center of Little Rock as part of a team that is working to bring counseling and therapy to the mosque. 鈥淭he Islamic Center of Little Rock want to start implanting counseling services and couples therapy. Muslim couples have been turned away from other places for counseling because they are Muslim,鈥 Ilyas said. 鈥淢y team is also trying to get counseling services for high school kids. I鈥檝e become a mentor for a lot of the younger Muslims that I know. They often tell me that they feel like they don’t鈥 fit in or have to conform to things that don鈥檛 fit with their religion. Having a therapist who is Muslim or who understands the Muslim experience is helpful to these kids.鈥 Now that she has graduated, Ilyas is taking a gap year to focus on her research and volunteer work with the Islamic Center of Little Rock as well as study and take the MCATs (Medical College Admission Test) and apply for medical school. At 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, she received a Signature Experience Award, which provides $1,000 for a student to conduct a research or creative project, to study how renewable resources can be used to purify water with Dr. Noureen Siraj, assistant professor of chemistry. 鈥淚鈥檓 using consumption waste materials, such as used tea leaves and cigarette buds, as a green chemistry source to purify water,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 walked around campus with little baggies and gloves and picked up the old cigarette buds. Why not use something that is littering the world and put it to better use?鈥 She has even come full circle by mentoring high school students that work in Siraj鈥檚 lab during the school year, just like she did in high school. 鈥淚 could have just done a baking soda volcano for a high school science fair project, but the fact that I got to work in a real lab was very cool,鈥 Ilyas said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got to help high school students in Dr. Siraj鈥檚 lab, since I want to encourage students to pursue their passions at a young age.鈥 ]]> Donaghey Scholars to present final projects May 7-9 /news-archive/2019/05/06/donaghey-scholars-projects/ Mon, 06 May 2019 22:12:02 +0000 /news/?p=74231 ... Donaghey Scholars to present final projects May 7-9]]> 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Donaghey Scholars spring graduates will present their final project presentations May 7-9. The 45-minute presentations will take place in Dickinson Hall Room 209 and will showcase the projects the honors students have worked on the past year.聽The final projects are an integral part of the Donaghey Scholars curriculum. 鈥淭hey must be a substantial piece of individual work, and as such are a crucial component to Scholars life after college. They aren鈥檛 just learning about how to do things; they are doing them, and that makes them competitive to employers and graduate schools,鈥 said Simon Hawkins, director of the Donaghey Scholars program. 鈥The range is always staggering, from chemistry research to novel drafts to political analyses to important work for community groups. It is particularly pleasing to see so many projects have a community focus.鈥 Historically, about a third of the projects have been centered on the community. Many projects are research-oriented, such as examining the water quality in Fourche Creek or studying the soil in different enclosures at the Little Rock Zoo, while other students have gathered data specifically for community organizations, such as the Historic Arkansas Museum. Still others provide direct services for community groups, designing web pages for schools and developing fundraising programs for nonprofits. Over the years, several 聽entrepreneurial students have turned their final projects into thriving businesses, Hawkins said. The presentation schedule is as follows: Tuesday, May 7 10-10:45 聽Luke Tyhurst – Rykos: Interactive Problem Solving for the Modern World 11-11:45 聽Julie O’Hara – The Effects of Elite Discourses on Secessionist Movements 12-12:45 聽Ingrid Helgestad – The Evolution of a Novel Medical Device: Solving the Problem of Unplanned Extubations in ICUs 1-1:45 p.m. 聽Jessica Morris – Evaluating Variations in Soil Composition Among Enclosures at the Little Rock Zoo 2-2:45 p.m. 聽Nicole Ursin – Understanding Museum Demographics: Historic Arkansas Museum Wednesday, May 8 12-12:45 聽Willow Moyer – Gibbs Elementary Website Project and Web Portfolio 1-1:45 聽Alex Palmer – Medical Marijuana and Federalism 3-3:45 聽Grishma KC – Characterization of a Novel Multi-Copper Cyanobacterial Laccase 4-4:45 聽Taemora Williams – Grassroots Fundraising: A Sustainable Development Plan for Partners in Knowledge Thursday, May 9 9-9:45 a.m. 聽Mirah Dievernich – Cell Phone Use in the Neonatal 聽Intensive Care Unit 10-10:45 a.m. Abigail Resendiz – Vascugenix Business Plan: Bringing a Medical Device to Market 11-11:45 a.m. Maxwell Campbell – Potential Impacts of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds on the Fourche Creek Ecosystem 12-12:45 p.m. 聽Arooba Ilyas – Purification of Water Using Different Adsorbents 3-3:45 p.m. 聽Tyler Maxwell – De Novo Biosynthesis of Resveratrol in Metabolically-Engineered Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803  ]]>