Nearly 90 First-year Students Recognized by Dean Noureddine Melikechi at Dinner Reception
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03/18/2019
By Edwin L. Aguirre
The Kennedy College of Sciences celebrated nearly 90 freshman students who made the fall semester Dean鈥檚 List at a recent dinner reception at the UML Inn & Conference Center鈥檚 Grand Ballroom in downtown Lowell.
鈥淵ou should all be proud of your accomplishment,鈥� Dean Noureddine Melikechi told the crowd, which included dozens of parents, family members and guests. 鈥淵our success represents not only your hard work and determination, but also the whole community of people who are here to support you 鈥� the teachers, faculty, the chairs, the dean鈥檚 office, the provost and university leadership, and also your families and friends. Everybody contributes to make sure you succeed.鈥�
All 181 freshmen who qualified for the Dean鈥檚 List by earning a minimum GPA of 3.25 while carrying a full course load were invited to the event. All in all, 842 Kennedy College of Sciences students made the fall Dean鈥檚 List.
Among those honored was Timothy Beck, a freshman from Arlington majoring in math.
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Computer science freshman Alberto Chavez receives a gift from Prof. Fred Martin, the Kennedy College of Sciences鈥� associate dean for student success.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very nice for us to be treated to such a fancy dinner; I know other colleges don鈥檛 do it,鈥� said Beck, who was inspired by his math teacher at Arlington High School to pursue the field.
Beck鈥檚 mom, Marcy, was elated to see her son鈥檚 River Hawk career get off to a running start. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very, very proud of him. It鈥檚 such a big achievement, especially in his first semester,鈥� she said.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of my fellow Dean鈥檚 Listers. This is such a great college experience,鈥� said Serena Nguyen, a biology freshman from Randolph who plans to pursue a pre-med program, so she can be a research biochemist or a physician.
Lucia Cheney agreed. 鈥淚鈥檓 very excited and truly appreciative of this recognition from the dean,鈥� said the environmental science major from Sharon.
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Being on the Dean鈥檚 List has inspired Tracy Freire to accomplish more. 鈥淚 plan to pursue a career in forensic science,鈥� said the chemistry freshman from Brockton. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to work in a private company or in state or federal law enforcement like the FBI.鈥�
For Alberto Chavez, the recognition is affirmation that he鈥檚 doing well in school. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to celebrate this accomplishment with other students who are working as hard as I am in making our parents proud,鈥� said the computer science freshman from Worcester, who plans to pursue a career in genetic research.
An Inspiring Message
The reception featured guest speaker , a triple River Hawk. Tsui received bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees (both magna cum laude) in 2004 and 2008, respectively, and a Ph.D. in 2014, all in computer science.
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Guest speaker and UML triple alum Kate Tsui addresses the students and their parents.
Tsui is currently a user experience researcher at the Toyota Research Institute in Cambridge, where she is studying the needs of senior drivers and what technologies can be developed to assist them. She is also investigating human-robot interaction in the context of automated driving technologies.
鈥淚 literally apply everything that I had learned at UMass Lowell almost every day,鈥� Tsui told the students as she recounted the career path she took, from her internships at Sun Microsystems and Google to her postdoctoral work at Yale University and her present job with the automotive giant.
Eric Fan, a computer science major from Westford, found Tsui鈥檚 success story inspiring. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great that she鈥檚 an alum. That means she had been through all the classes that I鈥檓 going to take, with the same professors. It鈥檚 great to hear from someone who had already been through it all,鈥� he said.
Aside from Melikechi, also on hand to congratulate the students were Prof. Julie Nash, vice provost for student success, Prof. Fred Martin, associate dean for student success, and Prof. Matthew Nugent, associate dean for research, innovation and partnerships.