{"id":171773,"date":"2021-04-23T09:10:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T13:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=171773"},"modified":"2021-05-05T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T13:04:00","slug":"class-of-2021-students-share-what-and-who-inspires-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/04\/class-of-2021-students-share-what-and-who-inspires-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of 2021: CLAS Students share What \u2013 and Who \u2013 Inspires Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This is the first in our annual College of Liberal Arts and Science<\/i>s<\/i>\u00a0Graduating Student Spotlight series. This year,\u00a0<\/i>students with a broad array of backgrounds and majors<\/i>\u00a0reflect on\u00a0<\/i>their college experience, remembering the good times and how the COVID-19 pandemic changed their senior year.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What has been most\u00a0<\/span><\/b>inspiring\u00a0<\/span><\/b>to you at UConn?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

William\u00a0Aleman\u00a0\u201921\u00a0(CLAS),\u00a0BA<\/h3>\n


\nMajor:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Economics
\nMinor: <\/span><\/b>Data analytics
\nHometown: <\/span><\/b>New Haven, Connecticut<\/p>\n

\"William
William Aleman, an economics major and data analytics minor. Photo courtesy of William Aleman.\u00a0<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My family\u00a0<\/span><\/b>played a huge part in my eagerness to succeed and motivation to graduate.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Both of my parents came to the United States in their early 20\u2019s with nothing but hope,\u00a0to be able\u00a0to\u00a0give\u00a0my little brother and myself a better life.\u00a0Being a first-generation student, it was tough at\u00a0<\/span>times and there were\u00a0definitely a\u00a0lot of stressful nights. But<\/span>\u00a0I knew I had to graduate because I\u00a0<\/span>wanted to make my family proud. I owe them that. My parents are my role\u00a0<\/span>models<\/span>\u00a0and they are\u00a0<\/span>my biggest inspiration, as well as my support system. I am hoping to set the path for my little\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>brother so he can be just as, if not more, successful than I am<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Victoria Sun \u201921 (CLAS), BA<\/h3>\n

Major:<\/strong>\u00a0English
\nHometown:<\/strong> Queens, New York and Norwich, Connecticut<\/p>\n

The first class I took with<\/span>\u00a0Barbara Gurr<\/span><\/b>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>associate professor in residence of women\u2019s<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0gender<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and sexuality studies<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0was her Feminism in Science Fiction course<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and it was incredible. Her content was engaging and relevant in every way<\/strong> imaginable. Occasionally, we would have emergency simulations where our pods would have to overcome hypothetical situations on the spot without being able to fully communicate. Everyone in the class was still able to retain all the knowledge we were told<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0but Barb also gave us a chance to put it to use.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mukund\u00a0Desibhatla\u00a0\u201921 (CLAS), BS<\/h3>\n

Majors:<\/strong> Physiology and neurobiology\u00a0and Spanish
\nMinor:<\/strong>\u00a0European studies
\nHometown:<\/strong> Newton, Massachusetts<\/p>\n

He<\/span>\u00a0not only<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>push<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0me to become a better student and\u00a0<\/span>scientist<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0but<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>taught<\/span>\u00a0me to always consider the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>greater implications of research and who it will benefit.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My research mentor,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Board of Trustees Distinguished\u00a0<\/span>P<\/span>rofessor of\u00a0<\/span>P<\/span>sychological\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>ciences<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>John Salamone<\/span><\/b>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>was integral in shaping my college experience<\/strong>. He<\/span>\u00a0not only<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>push<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0me to become a better student and\u00a0<\/span>scientist<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0but<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>taught<\/span>\u00a0me to always consider the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>greater implications of research and who it will benefit. I am grateful for his\u00a0<\/span>guidance, and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>will always<\/span>\u00a0have<\/span>\u00a0a deep passion for<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>psychopharmacology due to his influence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Yasaman Homayouni is a graduate student studying astrophysics. Photo courtesy of Yasaman Homayouni.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yasaman\u00a0Homayouni\u00a0\u201921 Ph.D.<\/h3>\n

Major:\u00a0<\/strong>Physics
\nHometown:<\/strong>\u00a0Tehran, Iran<\/p>\n

I was lucky to have\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0supportive advisor<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Associate Professor of Physics Jonathan Trump<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>as well as amazing mentors and role models. They made me believe in achieving things that I never even dreamed about<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I started at UConn, there was no astronomy group. Around the time I set my mind on pursuing astronomy for my Ph.D. at other universities with an existing astronomy program,\u00a0<\/span>UConn CLAS<\/span>\u00a0hired three amazing astronomers and started its first astronomy group. It was such a right time for me!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Black holes are among the most extreme objects in the Universe, creating literal rips in the fundamental fabric of space and time. Supermassive black holes reside at the center of every galaxy. But we still don’t understand how they form and grow. During my Ph.D., I led a program with the Hubble Space Telescope to monitor three extreme supermassive black holes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kristyn\u00a0Leamon\u00a0\u201921 (CLAS), BS<\/h3>\n

Major:<\/strong> Speech, language and hearing sciences
\nHometown:<\/strong> Manchester, Connecticut<\/p>\n

\"Kristyn
Kristyn Leamon, a speech, language and hearing sciences major. Photo courtesy of Kristyn Leamon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m thirty<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and throughout my twenties I was living a life that was more free-spirited. And I wanted\u00a0<\/span>stability.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I\u00a0<\/span>wanted<\/span>\u00a0a career. I wanted\u00a0<\/span>to invest in\u00a0something,\u00a0where I could work with people one-on-one, and understand who I am as a person. I like to be nurturing and encouraging, and working one-on-one either with children or adults, and something to help them regain abilities that they might have lost, anything like that. Knowing that once I\u2019m done, I can walk into a field where I can\u00a0<\/span>actually start<\/span>\u00a0doing this, that was one of my motivators. Just knowing that I will finally be able to\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>invest myself into\u00a0something,\u00a0into\u00a0patients,\u00a0into<\/strong>\u00a0this career.<\/strong> That was something I was really craving.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zhian Xie\u00a0\u201921 (CLAS), BA<\/h3>\n

Major:<\/strong> Applied mathematics
\nHometown:<\/strong>\u00a0Nanchang, Jiangxi, China<\/p>\n

I would say all\u00a0<\/span>my extracurricular activities<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>motivated me<\/span>. Being an Asian American Cultural Center staff member, Global gateways coordinator, FYE mentor, and more. All of these have really motivated me during my college experience. It is not really about what I have done, or what I have learned. It is all about the amazing people that I have met during this process.<\/strong> I really appreciate all of them as they have really brightened my days at UConn. The days that I worked with them were just beautiful, and they have really influenced me and changed me a lot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family, faculty, and peer connections are some of the things that motivated the students in the CLAS class of 2021 through an unprecedented year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":171780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2310],"class_list":["post-171773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 12:29:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171773"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172468,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171773\/revisions\/172468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/171780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171773"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=171773"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=171773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}