Biomedical Student Mary Jia Named College of Engineering's Top Senior

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Dean Kim Needy, Mary Jia and Jeff Wolchok, head of biomedical engineering

Biomedical student Mary Jia has been named the College of Engineering's outstanding senior and will deliver remarks on behalf of the Class of 2023 during the college's commencement at noon Saturday in Barnhill Arena.

Jia entered the U of A as an exceptional student, and she will leave as an exceptional graduate.

Raised in Stuttgart, she accumulated enough college credit in high school to become a senior in terms of hours after only one year at U of A.

Jia garnered one of the campus's top awards, the Bodenhamer Fellowship, the first in a long list of scholarships that included an Arkansas Governor's scholarship, a State Undergraduate Research Fellowship, a Charles D. Brock Engineering Scholarship and a Goldwater Scholarship.

She completed her undergraduate studies in biomedical engineering with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

For more than three years, Jia has been part of assistant professor Chris Nelson's research group, where her work has included developing new tools for precise gene editing. A particular area of interest is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a devastating genetic disease that disables and shortens the lives of those born with it.

In the letter nominating Jia as this class's outstanding senior, department head Jeff Wolchok wrote, "Mary has proven to be a tremendously capable, engaging and highly motivated student through her tenure as an undergraduate learner, researcher, volunteer and leader … Mary is the type of student we want graduating from and representing the College of Engineering to the world."

Most recently, Jia received a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation and will pursue her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University starting this fall.

Jia said it's an honor to represent her class, noting its members have succeeded despite significant challenges, including persevering through the difficulties of the worldwide pandemic. She said she struggled to craft a message for graduates that captures the journey for everyone because each student's experience is unique.

"For me, college has been a journey of discovery, a relentless pursuit of answers to questions that were often both disappointing and fascinating. And when persisting was hard, the support I received from fellow students and mentors carried me through even my most profound failures," she wrote in her remarks.

She also encouraged the group of new engineers to seek out help and collaboration.

"While we individually can accomplish incredible things, that is nothing compared to what we can do together," she wrote.

Dean Kim Needy praised Jia and the group of outstanding seniors nominated by each of the engineering departments and the multidisciplinary Data Science program.

"These students have not only excelled in their classes, but they've also taken advantage of other opportunities, such as research, internships, study abroad, design projects and service, which allowed them to learn new skills and develop as engineers," she said. "We're proud of these and all of our graduates, and we wish them all much success."

The college's full list of outstanding seniors:

• Mary Jia, biomedical engineering
• Kendele Kramer, biological and agricultural engineering
• Sydnee Ehorn, chemical engineering
• Ivris Raymond, computer engineering
• Jackson Scott Bullard, computer science
• Timothy Nunez, civil engineering
• Jack Kincannon, data science
• Jeremiah Wimer, electrical engineering
• Abigail Harris, industrial engineering
• Noshin Nawar, mechanical engineering