Each year, the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences honors students who have demonstrated outstanding achievements and accomplishments throughout their time at UCR. Below are the descriptions of each award and the award winners. Congratulations to our students!

Rosemary S.J. Schraer Award
In honor of Rosemary S.J. Schraer, who served as UCR Chancellor from 1987-1992, the Schraer Award recognizes the academic excellence of two outstanding graduating seniors in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. 

Academic Excellence Awards
The Academic Excellence Awards for the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences recognizes students who are selected by their faculty for achieving excellence in their academics and research or creative activity. 

Outstanding Achievement Award
Selected by the CNAS divisional deans, the Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes one student from all the Excellence Award nominees for their exemplary achievement in academics and research or creative activity, their breadth of involvement in the college, and for their commitment to service and citizenship.  

Cheyenne Darrow '23
Rosemary S.J. Schraer Award
Academic Excellence Award
Cheyenne Darrow is a first-generation and non-traditional transfer student that transferred to UCR in 2021. She started research in Dr. Quinn McFrederick’s entomology lab in Summer 2021 through a paid internship (RISE) investigating the microbiome of bumble bees which propelled her interest in academia and research. At UCR she has continued to conduct research in the McFrederick Lab, present at conferences, maintain a 4.0 cumulative GPA, receive scholarships, become a Six Legs Program student mentor, participate in outreach events, and conduct NSF-funded research at Montana State University (MSU). Her experiences inspired her to continue with her academic career. She recently was awarded the NSF-GRFP and a Microbiology NSF-Traineeship which will fund her graduate studies at MSU that she will start in August.

Joshua Wong '23
Rosemary S.J. Schraer Award
Academic Excellence Award
Joshua Wong has made significant contributions to a wide range of areas across UCR – including as a CNAS Ambassador, Associate Editor-In-Chief of the Undergraduate Research Journal, and during a four-year term as President of the Fencing Club. He has also fenced for UCR at regional competitions. He received the Biochemistry Department’s Leland M. Shannon Award for excellent performance in undergraduate laboratory coursework. He has been a long-standing member of Dr. Timothy Su’s research group in the Department of Chemistry, with a focus on exploring the conductance properties of linear polysilane and poly (germoxane) wires. He has also conducted structural biology research in the group of Dr. Li Fan in the Department of Biochemistry. After graduation, Joshua will begin his Ph.D. studies in Chemical Biology at Cornell University. His ultimate career goal is to become a professor, where he hopes to explore the intersection between chemical synthesis and biological systems and guide students aspiring to become scientists.

Advyth Ramachandran ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Outstanding Achievement Award
Advyth Ramachandran has served as the vice president and research coordinator of UCR’s Strategies for Ecology, Education, Diversity, and Sustainability club. He has conducted independent research in the Spasojevic labs and has presented this research at several local and national conferences. He has helped lead two undergraduate research projects for which he helped secure five grants to fund these projects. He recently received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and has been accepted to a Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado – Boulder.

Jonathan Benedum ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Jonathan Benedum studied neurophysiology at UCR and was awarded the 2019 UCR Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant. He also worked as a member of Prof. Joshua Morgan’s Tissue Injury & Mortality Engineering (TIME) lab, operating at the interface of aging biology and tissue engineering to develop strategies for healthier living. With Jonathan's help, TIME is working to pioneer a class of in vitro models that match the scale and complexity of chronic aging-associated disease (AAD), but are tractable through routine use throughout aging research and other fields.

Peter Carney ’24
Academic Excellence Award
Peter Carney is a third-year physics major deeply engaged in undergraduate research. He began research in gravitational-wave detection in October 2021, working in LIGO with Prof. Jon Richardson. He went on to conduct LIGO research with Prof. Rana Adhikari at Caltech during Summer 2022. While continuing to pursue research in the Richardson lab, he also joined Prof. Miguel Arratia’s lab to gain exposure to particle accelerator physics. These experiences have given Peter the opportunity to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, where he will be participating in a research program at CERN for Summer 2023. Peter has won several awards, including the Carl A. Rouse Fellowship, Outstanding First- and Second-Year Undergraduate Student in the Physics & Astronomy Department, and the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Peter has a 3.97 GPA, and will be graduating in 2024. He plans on attending graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in physics.

Marco De La Torre ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Marco De La Torre has been working in the Dehesh lab at UCR since June 2022 where he participated in the NSF-CEPCEB REU Program and has been continuing to work on different research projects and is actively being trained on metabolomics. Born from Mexican-immigrant parents, Marco strives to further recruit individuals from underrepresented backgrounds within plant biology. During his time at UCR, his academic achievements have been recognized of which he was on the Dean’s Honors List during the Spring 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, and Winter 2023 quarters. Beginning in September 2023, he will be starting a Ph.D. program in Plant Biology at UCR of which he has been awarded the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award.

Ellen Green ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Ellen Green has been targeting the chemical synthesis of the anti-inflammatory natural product, spiroalanfurantone A, in the Kou Lab and is the key personnel for the preparation of an advanced intermediate needed in our research that requires 6 steps to synthesize. Her efforts were instrumental in solving the two key reactions in the synthesis plan. As her mentor is wrapping up the project, Maude is currently tackling a side project aimed at synthesizing skeletally diverse derivatives to probe structure activity relationships. Maude balanced her studies as an actor when beginning her studies at UCR and retired from the industry as she transitioned to focus on her academic and research interests. She currently maintains a GPA >3.98 in science (>3.95 cumulative) not including the 10 A/A+'s achieved over the last year.

Andrew Her ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Andrew Her is diligent and enthusiastic about his continual pursuit of entomological understanding. With a cumulative GPA of 3.81 and as a consistent member of the Dean’s Honor List, he strives to honor the memory of his late father and inspire pride as a first-generation college student from his family. After graduating, Andrew seeks to continue in higher education with the ultimate goal of optimizing the progression of agricultural practices alongside the conservation of the natural environment.

Hannah Rose Hoover ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Hannah Rose Hoover is a top-performing undergraduate student (3.82 GPA), making the Chancellor’s List in 2022. She works in Dr. Maryjo Brounce’s analytical geochemistry laboratory since 2021 on several projects, resulting in authorship to a special paper presented by a UCR Ph.D. student at the Stanford Geothermal Rising Conference in 2023, and participation in a particle accelerator experiment at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory with Dr. Brounce. HannahRose has also constructed a new museum display case in the UCR Geology Museum to communicate the importance of igneous rocks to our understanding of the Earth to the UCR public. Through her enthusiastic contributions to the classroom, research laboratories, and museum, HannahRose has made an immensely positive impact during her time at UCR.

Yeprem Hovhannisyan ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Yeprem Hovhannisyan transferred to UCR as a chemistry major from Glendale Community College. After a year at UCR, he joined Dr. Beran’s research group to further his fascination with computational chemistry. Due to his incredible work ethic in his studies was awarded the 2023 ACS undergraduate award in Physical Chemistry. Yeprem has faced numerous hardships while attending UCR, which motivated him to strive to be the best version of himself. Throughout his studies at UCR, he maintained a 3.94 GPA and will be the first-generation STEM graduate in his family. After graduation, he strives to pursue a career in medicine, where he plans to become a surgeon.

Camille Korbut ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Camille Korbut has a passion for education concerning underrepresented students in the STEM field with an emphasis on bolstering community college students. Her professional goals are to become a lead researcher in industry or government while collaborating on initiatives that promote mathematics\ education outreach in K-12 and undergraduate education. She has been actively participating in the Association for Women in Mathematics Chapter at UCR and has run the chapter as the president for two years. She organized various activities including diversity workshops and visiting K12 schools to promote STEM. During her presidency, UCR chapter has been selected as the winner of 2022 AWM student chapter award for community outreach. Camille also actively participated in STEM Connections (STEM Pathways Program at UCR), and Research in Science and Engineering (RISE) program at UCR. She has been selected to participate in California Alliance for Minority Participation at UCR (2021/2022), Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium (UROC) at the University of Arizona (2021), and the Research Training Group in Data Discovery REU at the University of Arizona (2022) which allows underrepresented minority students to engage in active research with faculty mentors. Her CAMP faculty mentor is Dr. Weitao Chen. At the University of Arizona, she worked under the supervision of Dr. David Glickenstein, Dr. Kevin Lin, Dr. Avinash Karamchandani, and Alexa Aucoin. She also conducted research under the guidance of Dr. Mykhailo (Misha) Potomkin in a research undergraduate course. She will start her Ph.D. study in Fall 2023.

Artha Lam ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Artha Lam was a research trainee and assistant in the Curras-Collazo Lab, studying gut-brain interactions in a mouse model of Gulf War Illness. She received a UC Mini Grant to conduct her experiments and she presented her work at the UCR Undergraduate conference. Artha also worked as a research assistant at the Brain Game Center where she was tasked with administering various cognitive studies on human subjects. Moreover, Artha contributed to a postdoc's research project using molecular biology to study the stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana plants. These activities have allowed her to generate new knowledge in human cognitive science, neuroscience and plant biology. In addition to research, Artha has excelled in her academic program, earning a 3.95 cumulative GPA and receiving Chancellor's and Dean’s list honors since Fall 2019.

Thai Le ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Thai Le has worked with the Gray Lab on the fate and transport of microplastic pollution in the Southern California Bight for close to two years. In addition to his involvement in research, he also had the opportunity to gain insight into the legislative aspect of environmental sciences as a water quality intern with the California Ocean Protection Council. Due to his focus on academics, Thai remained on the Chancellor’s and Dean’s Honors List throughout his undergraduate studies and was able to complete his degree in just under three years. He intends to continue working to improve the quality of California’s environment as an Air Pollution Specialist with the California Air Resources Board.

Samantha Lee ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Samantha Lee has interned in Dr. Zlebnik’s Neuroscience Lab for over a year, studying the role of endocannabinoids and dopamine in cognitive flexibility. She presented her work at the Western Psychological Association Annual Convention and will be an author on an upcoming manuscript. In addition to this, Samantha serves in leadership positions within Future Pharmacists and Health Queers, an organization that provides safe space for LGBTQ+ students to discuss healthcare issues. She is also involved in a number of other extracurricular and volunteer organizations, all while maintaining an outstanding academic record and regularly earning a place on the Dean’s Honors List as well as Chancellor’s Honors List. Samantha plans to pursue a Pharm.D. and will attend UCSF School of Pharmacy after graduation.

Alliyah Munir ’23
Academic Excellence Award
Alliyah Munir is a dedicated and serious student with a desire to expand her knowledge. A member of Mu Sigma Rho, the National Honor Society for Statistics, Alliyah strives to increase her experience and develop her statistical skills beyond the classroom. She performed statistical research with Dr. Weixin Yao, Vice Chair of the Statistics Department, and also worked with Dr. Daniel Jeske as a data assistant for a research project in UCR’s Statistical Consulting Collaboratory. An active member of the Highlander Statistical Society, she also participated in the 2023 ASA DataFest challenge at UCLA, a 48-hour data analytics hackathon where students collaborate to provide the best insights from a large, complex dataset. Alliyah is also a representative member of the Statistics Department’s DEI Committee, which promotes inclusion and diversity in the department. Through her role, she led and organized DEI events, including an innovative “speed dating” event where undergraduates met and asked questions of graduate students in the Statistics program.