Kennesaw State University

When Colin Jacobs chose to study hospitality management at Kennesaw State University, he mostly associated the major with hotels and restaurants. However, the Fall 2024 graduate's involvement on and off campus, as well as the industry connections he made, opened his eyes to the vast opportunities in the hospitality industry.

Iwalani Reiser has always thrived amid chaos, starting as a teenager on a voluntary ambulance crew in Bangkok and continuing as a paramedic in Atlanta. From the fast pace of nearly two decades in emergency medicine, she slowed down just enough to earn her Master of Science in Nursing degree, with a focus on becoming a family nurse practitioner.

Diya Patel knows she has a long road ahead to achieve her dream of becoming a physician, so she decided to sprint through the work needed to earn her undergraduate degree at Kennesaw State. At 19, she is graduating with honors with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Patel also made time to be a very involved member of the KSU community.

The Kennesaw State University Office of Undergraduate Research hosted the Fall Symposium of Student Scholars on the Marietta campus, featuring 235 projects. Anh Duong and John Oakley were awarded the top undergraduate presentation, and El Arbi Belfarsi received the top presentation in the graduate division.

With a strong interest in nature and science, Olivia Walker was accepted into the First-Year Scholars Program to study longleaf pine forest ecosystems. Walker also has developed some expertise in another endangered tree, the eastern hemlock, which she studied in the prestigious Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology.

In his pursuits to learn as much about his world as possible, Siam Sarower has been named to the President's List, earned a Coca-Cola First-Generation Scholarship, and joined the KSU Journey Honors College. He credits his parents and older brother, now a civil engineer, for supporting his journey as one of the first in his family to seek a degree.

Kennesaw State's National Organization of Minority Architecture Students team earned second place in the Barbara G. Laurie Student Design Competition, besting institutions such as Cornell University, UCLA and Clemson University. The competition challenged student teams to reimagine a four-block site in West Baltimore, historically known as the "Highway to Nowhere."

Claudia Garavis Montagut has completed an undergraduate research fellowship, gained field research experience, served as Model U.N. president, and enrolled in the KSU Journey Honors College. She also has been named a President's Parliament Scholar Ambassador and is a Double Owl pursuing both bachelor's and master's degrees simultaneously.

An animal lover from a young age, Kerrigan Larkin found her calling long before enrolling at Kennesaw State. During walks with her grandmother, Larkin learned about the plants and animals she saw. She applied that knowledge first as an Honors biology major at KSU, and now as a second-year student in the Master of Science in Integrative Biology program.

The word is out about Kennesaw State University's Department of Physics, and Matthew Garwacke heard it loud and clear. The junior physics major transferred to KSU last year for the opportunity to conduct research with renowned physics researcher Marco Guzzi, and then took on a prestigious research opportunity over the summer.

KSU Journey Honors College student Ella Smith is exploring how death and the final words between parents and children impact self-esteem and closure in mourning. Smith's research is deeply personal, because she has experienced end-of-life communication with her grandmother.

Kennesaw State second-year mechanical engineering students reveled in their engineering skills as they participated in the 14th annual Pumpkin Launch. The task: Build a device capable of launching a 10-pound pumpkin as far as possible using hand-built trebuchets, catapults, and other gravity-powered devices.

Lyric Gordon found life-changing research at Kennesaw State University - twice. After launching her student research career in an organic chemistry lab, she has shifted her focus to a biochemistry lab where she works with protein blockers that can help patients with dementia-related brain maladies, a major change in the final year of graduate study.

Jacob Erasmus wasted no time getting involved on campus, finding a laboratory and research project through KSU's First-Year Scholars program and parlaying that work into a summer internship at a nature-based ingredient company. Now he has continued his research and has shown no signs of slowing down as a Sophomore Scholar.

As a 12-year-old, David Madrigal-Giraldo arrived in the U.S. speaking no English. Fast forward a decade, and he's an information technology student at Kennesaw State University actively shaping his future. Madrigal-Giraldo has become involved in clubs and held numerous internships that have enriched his learning experience.

Adamina Bilbrey leveraged her participation in the Birla Carbon Scholars program to study the conservation of an endangered plant native to Georgia. The KSU environmental science major studied a beneficial native plant called the royal catchfly in a field in Dade County, Georgia, and discovered the plant flourishes best in areas that experience both sun and shade.

Lucile Duncan was introduced to engineering at a young age, which ultimately led her to pursue mechanical engineering at Kennesaw State. At KSU, she has gained valuable classroom experience and has leveraged that into high-impact internships at Gulfstream Aerospace, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Delta Airlines.

After becoming a construction management student at KSU, Maria Benitez Blanco earned three years' worth of credits in just two years with near perfect grades. She was nominated to be one of Kennesaw State's 2024 Outstanding Student Scholars and participated in the 2024 Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia's Academic Recognition Day.

Kennesaw State University congratulates the nearly 1,100 students named to the Dean's List in recognition of their academic achievement during the Summer 2024 semester. Undergraduate students enrolled in at least nine credit hours and with a term grade point average of at least 3.5 were named to the list.

Looking to grow his engineering skills and career, Joachim James took the advice of his cousins who attended Kennesaw State University and enrolled in the Master of Science in Civil Engineering program. Today, he plays a critical role in research that could change the way engineers address lighting inside tunnel systems.

Kennesaw State University has named more than 1,100 students to the President's List in recognition of their academic excellence for the Summer 2024 semester. To achieve this honor, each undergraduate student must have completed at least nine credit hours with a term grade point average of 4.0.

The Birla Carbon Scholars Symposium marks the completion of an intensive summer research program in which students apply their studies toward sponsored projects under the guidance of Kennesaw State faculty scholars. The 12 students were chosen based on faculty recommendations, an undergraduate research project abstract, and a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Kennesaw State junior Emily Manqueros knew in high school that she wanted to do research in physics, not just study it. Manqueros said classes in astronomy and physics taught her how physical forces effect everything around her, and she wanted to immerse herself in them. So, she came to KSU for the opportunity to conduct research right away as a freshman.

Computer science major Fernando Orfila is working to create an app to keep people interested in their health and wellness goals through gamification. Physical inactivity, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes cost the United States more than $700 billion a year, according to the CDC, and Orfila believes health and wellness apps could ultimately provide solutions.

What would America without opera look or sound like? Kennesaw State music major Simon Kawasaki shudders at the thought, but his project through KSU's Summer Undergraduate Research Program considers that very possibility, one of a handful of summer projects from the College of the Arts.

When something grabs Toni Kamau's attention, she wants to find out everything about it she can - which serves her well in research. Last fall and spring semesters, Kamau worked with research mentor Chloe Xie and fellow students to examine processes of how DNA is damaged and how it repairs itself.

In just one year of college, Mercy Olaniran already has been immersed in two research projects to positively impact people's lives. The computer science major is currently working to develop a smartphone application that would provide helpful tips to caregivers of people living with dementia.

Participating in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), exercise science major Kayla Anderson is searching for a method of strength training for people who are not able to participate in traditional ways. Those who would benefit include the elderly, people with injuries, and post-stroke patients.

Tommy Brown has been fascinated by the vastness of space and the mystery of faraway stars for as long as he can remember, so it's only natural he chose to pursue engineering. The sophomore mechanical engineering major is working to design a hybrid drone capable of walking and flying while exploring previously unreachable areas of the solar system.

A Kennesaw State University engineering senior design team recently secured a third place finish at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Capstone Senior Design Project competition in Montreal. To complete the project, they partnered with mining and manufacturing company Imerys, which is currently implementing the design team's recommendations.