Aleena Taufiq ’18 recently landed her dream job as a data engineer working in artificial intelligence at Verizon, a career she never imagined four years ago. She also expanded her Geared Up middle school enrichment program to schools across the country. Alumni support created opportunities for her every step of the way.
That’s SMU alumna Whitney Wolfe Herd ’11 on the cover of the Forbes 30 Under 30 issue. Herd founded Bumble, “America’s fastest-growing dating-app company,” just three years after receiving a bachelor’s degree in international studies from SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.
As a postdoctoral fellow, Paul E. Hardin ’82 was the first author on one of the fundamental papers from a body of research on circadian rhythm recognized with the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Lindsey Perry ’16 studied students’ spatial and relational reasoning with numbers in her SMU Ph.D. dissertation, which has resulted in a $2.5 million grant to develop a mathematical reasoning screening system for grades K–2.
A global team of researchers, including SMU's Bonnie Jacobs, sifted through tens of thousands of measurements to crack the mystery of leaf size, providing scientists with another tool for predicting climate-related changes in vegetation.
On the same day as the Equifax data breach, SMU cyber security expert Fred Chang urged Congress to remember the success of the “space race” as a model for expanding training efforts today to meet the coming shortage of skilled cyber security workers.
Luisa del Rosal ’08, executive director of the Tower Center and Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center at SMU, received the Latino Up-And-Comer Award as part of D CEO’s 2017 Latino Business Awards. The awards are designed to honor the top Latino “visionary thinkers and industry pioneers” in North Texas.
Simmons professors Diego Román and Dara Rossi, alumna Greses Perez ’14 and Dallas Arboretum educators conducted a summer workshop for 125 Ecuadoran teachers in the Galápagos Islands.
Medical anthropologist Caroline Smith-Morris has been studying the social factors contributing to a rise in diabetes among Pima Indians for over 15 years. Her research is helping the biomedical community move in new directions to improve disease outcomes.
As the University makes final preparations for the arrival of new students and the start of fall classes August 21, I am more excited than ever about the opportunities ahead – for the Class of 2021 and for the University as a whole.
