May 25, 2000

Mona H. Siddiqui

The first recipient of the University Medal, she majored in both physiology/neurobiology and philosophy. Siddiqui volunteered at Shady Grove Nursing Home and Longview Elementary School and researched at the National Institutes of Health. She also assisted in a maternity ward in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, and was a member of the University Honor Council. After graduation, she began medical school at Johns Hopkins University.

May 24, 2001

Margaret E. Sheer 

A double major in Spanish language and literature and environmental science and policy, she was a founding member of Collegium Musicum and an actor at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. As a professional, Sheer hoped to address environmental problems across borders and began graduate studies in law and public policy at the University of Texas after graduation.

May 23, 2002

Anoma Nellore 

A double major in biochemistry and government and politics, she was a Banneker-Key Scholar, a member of University Senate and the Student Honor Council, and led a Gemstone Program AIDS in Africa Group. Nellore also interned at the Merton/Sutton/Wansworth Health Authority in London, England. She started medical school at the University of Pennsylvania following graduation.

May 22, 2003

Allison Bigelow 

A double major in English language and literature and Spanish language and literature, she was a Dean's Senior Scholar and a Phi Beta Kappa member of the University Honors Program, who volunteered for Beyond These Walls, a non-profit teaching and reading program for non-English speakers. Bigelow planned to teach English in Chile after graduation.

May 20, 2004

Justin Ma 

A double major in mathematics and computer science, Ma was also a concert pianist. He served as a volunteer teacher for the Chinese Language Schools and founded a club at the university for the Chinese martial art called Wushu. Ma planned to work as a computer security expert.

May 21, 2005

Melissa Boteach 

A double major in government and politics and Spanish, she was a Dean's Senior Scholar, a Harry S. Truman scholarship winner, and founder of the Fair Trade Advocacy Club at Maryland. Boteach attended University College Dublin on a Mitchell Fellowship after graduation, studying international development, and hoped to work for a non-govermental organization.

May 21, 2006

Jessica Sheer

A government and politics major, she was an Honors tutor in Spanish, Italian, English, and economics and a peer advisor. Off-campus, Sheer worked for a non-profit organization concerned with water quality and interned for a state delegate. She attended Georgetown Law School on a Dean's Scholarship after graduation.

May 20, 2007

Patrick Hughes 

A double major in government and politics and history, he was a member of the Honors Program and the Gemstone PEACE (Peace Education Aimed at Children Everywhere) Team. Hughes also served as a student member of the University Senate. He planned to attend Georgetown Law School following graduation, with hopes of a career in academia or politics.

May 22, 2008

Peter DeMuth 

A double major in chemical/biomolecular engineering and biochemistry, he worked as a student researcher on interdisciplinary projects related to nanoparticles used to combat cancerous cells. DeMuth has been published in major journals and applied for two patents relating to his student research. After graduation, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

May 21, 2009

Phillip M. Hannam 

A mechanical engineering major and member of the Gemstone Honors Program, he co-founded a student group supporting clean energy, served on the university's Climate Action Plan Work Group, and traveled to several countries through Engineers Without Borders. Hannam was a national Truman Scholar and hoped to work for the United Nations' environmental programs division.

May 20, 2010

Sarah Peitzmeier 

A double major in cell biology and molecular genetics and music performance, she was a Banneker-Key Scholar and earned a Barry Goldwater Scholarship based on her student research on immunology. Peitzmeier was also a classical pianist, a volunteer for a sexual assault hotline, and completed a culinary program in French pastry. She planned to begin Johns Hopkins' global disease epidemiology program after graduation.

May 19, 2011

Dylan Rebois 

A mechanical engineering major, he was a national Truman Scholar and teaching assistant involved in Engineers Without Borders, where he worked on projects in Burkina Faso and Bahrain. Rebois was a member of the Student Sustainability Committee and researched renewable energy at the Brookings Institute. Recipient of a Marshall Scholarship, he attended Imperial College, London to study sustainable energy.

May 20, 2012

Jenny Wang 

A double major in physiology/neurobiology and English language and literature, minor in creative writing, she was an Honors College student and Banneker-Key Scholar. Wang started an undergraduate research journal, volunteered in a local emergency room, and worked at the Functional Genomics Laboratory. After graduation, she planned to travel to China and apply to medical school.

May 19, 2013

Raishay Lin

A English language and literature major, she was a Dean's Senior Scholar, Honors College student, and member of the Gemstone program. Lin also volunteered for the Counseling Center's ESOL program. She attended Harvard Law School following graduation.

May 22, 2014

Noah Mandell 

A physics major, with a minor in mathematics, Mandell served as a research assistant for the European Organization for Nuclear Research which made international headlines for its discovery of the Higgs boson subatomic particle.  Mandell was named a Philip Merrill Presidential Scholar and a Goldwater Scholar.  Outside the classroom, he was active in Phi Sigma Kappa and performed in the Jazz Lab band.  He pursued graduate studies in astrophysical sciences at Princeton University's Plasma Physics Laboratory.

May 21, 2015

Fang Cao 

A double major in neurobiology and physiology, Cao became UMD's first Rhodes scholar in more than four decades.  Winner of numerous awards, including Truman, Goldwater, and National Merit scholarships, Cao started two STEM tutoring programs at nearby Northwestern High School.  Following graduation, he traveled to the University of Oxford to pursue graduate student in medical anthropology.

May 18, 2016

Iowis Zhu 

A double major in biochemistry and biological sciences, Zhu led the UMD International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGem) team which competes internationally on synthetic biology projects and promotes undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math projects, to two gold medals in competition.  He also studied in India and Japan, observing how world communities deal with health challenges.  Following graduation, he planned to pursue a combined M.D/Ph.D. degree.

May 21, 2017

Gregory Ridgway 

A triple major in physics, mathematics, and piano performance, Ridgway helped author four articles in internationally known physics journals and performed at local, regional, and international music venues.  The National Science Foundation awarded him a graduate research fellowship to support his doctoral studies in physics at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology.

May 20, 2018

Christopher J. Bambic 

A double major in astronomy and physics, Bambic took full advantage of UMD's strength in physics and emphasis on student research by spending a summer at the University of Cambridge, analyzing data and supercomputer simulations on how turbulence and sound waves heat the plasma in clusters of galaxies, and working on the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray Observatory as a freshman and sophomore.  He also was the lead author on two published journal articles.  Following completion of his degrees, he received a Winston Churchill Scholarship to fully fund his pursuit of a Master of Philosophy degree in astronomy at the University of Cambridge.  Following completion of this degree, he planned to pursue his Doctorate in Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University.

May 24, 2019

Jerome Quenum 

An electrical engineering major, Quenum, who emigrated to the United States in 2013, received numerous scholarships while pursuing his degree.  He served as secretary of the Engineering Students Council and Eta Kappa Nu honor society, as well as project chair of the UMD chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.  As a member of Army ROTC, Quenum was commissioned as a second lieutenant at graduation.  He planned to pursue a doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Eric Wang 

A chemical and biomolecular engineering major, Wang was the lead or co-lead author for seven published papers in internationally known chemistry journals, served as a reviewer for The Journal of Physical Chemistry and The Journal of Molecular Modeling, and presented at national chemistry conferences as an undergraduate.  He also served as a Bible study leader for Catholic Terps and a member of the Knights of Columbus.  Following graduation, Wang planned to pursue a master philosophy degree at the University of Cambridge and will then enroll in a medical engineering and medical physics doctoral program run jointly by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

May 22, 2020

Michael Nastac 

A physics and mathematics double major, Nastac focused his research on magnetic confinement nuclear fusion and its potential to revolutionize the field of sustainable energy. As an undergraduate, he conducted experiments on plasma turbulence at both UMD and the University of Oxford, won a poster prize at the 2019 Sherwood Fusion Theory Conference, and gave talks at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the University of Oxford, and the 12th Plasma Kinetics Working Meeting at the Wolfgang Pauli Institute in Vienna, Austria. He was also the lead author of a publication in the Journal of Plasma Physics. Following graduation, he will pursue a doctorate at the University of Oxford, with plans to focus on solutions to the world’s energy crisis.

Tanay Wakhare 

Wakhare earned degrees in computer science and mathematics and received top university awards in mathematics and undergraduate research. In fields ranging from number theory to mathematical physics, Wakhare authored multiple papers and worked at institutions including the University of Queensland, Dalhousie University, the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis and the Center for Nanoscale Research at the National Institute for Standards and Technology. With a strong interest in artificial intelligence, he will pursue a master’s degree in advanced computer science at the University of Cambridge before heading to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to work on a doctorate in theoretical computer science.

May 20, 2022

Alythia Vo

Vo received bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences and Spanish language, literatures and cultures. As an undergraduate research assistant at UMD, the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, Vo worked on projects such as child mortality in Mali and the impact of COVID-19 on the contraceptive and reproductive care of Spanish-speaking women in Baltimore. Vo was also a health policy intern with the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and a community outreach worker for Latinx populations in Langley Park, Md., for a COVID-19 vaccine trial at the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. Vo volunteered for community health clinics and initiatives as well as the university’s Food Recovery Network and Campus Pantry and the Capital Area Food Bank in D.C. She was a member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and Vice President for Student Affairs’ Student Advisory Council, and president of the Asian American Student Union and Taiwanese American Student Association. Following a gap year conducting research, she plans to pursue medical and Master of Public Health degrees.