Two SIIRE Students Selected as Seniors of Significance

• U of A
• Student Integrated Intern Research Experience
• Two SIIRE Students Selected as Seniors of Significance

The Arkansas Alumni Association honored its third class of Seniors of Significance during a reception at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House on Dec. 2. Seventy-one graduating seniors, commemorating the university's founding date of 1871, were recognized along with their faculty or staff mentor. During the reception, the Seniors of Significance received a gold special honor cord to wear during graduation.

The 71 students were selected from more than 400 nominations and represent each University of Arkansas undergraduate academic college. These are exceptional seniors who were selected based on academic achievement, leadership skills and substantial extracurricular campus and/or community activities. Though mostly from Arkansas, they also represent eight other states and two countries.

This year celebrates the 52nd year of honoring a senior male and female undergraduate through the Senior Honor Citation program, as well as the re-established Razorback Classics program. Only students selected as Seniors of Significance have the opportunity to update their application in the 2017 spring semester to be further considered for these awards.

Britney Washington – Little Rock, Arkansas
Britney has two family members who battle with the degenerating autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis. It is her witness to their struggle that led her to chemical engineering. In pursuing her doctoral degree, she hopes to combine engineering and immunology to find a cure for autoimmune diseases.
Britney has completed three research assignments, two with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one at the University of Arkansas. She participated as a member of the Peacework Engineering Team in the summer of 2015 in Dangriga, Belize to design and implement a biogas chamber and water gauging system. In addition to her research, she is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Kappa Iota Chapter, and a mentor/coach with the Multicultural Academic Enrichment Program. Britney holds memberships in the National Society of Black Engineers, where she is currently serving as Membership Chair in the local student chapter and previously as Community Service Chair; the National Society of Leadership and Success; the Society of Women Engineers and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Britney is also the recipient of numerous scholarships and other honors.

Ashleigh Hegwood – McKinney, Texas
Ashleigh has served as the President of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Registered Student Organization and is involved with the Student Integrated Intern Research Experience (SIIRE). She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers, Alpha Lambda Delta First-Year Honor Society, and Alpha Pi Mu. In October 2014, Ashleigh had the privilege of being nominated by the industrial engineering faculty for the first ever Walmart Collegiate Innovators’ Challenge and her team won the event. She has also received scholarships from the Arkansas Academy of Industrial Engineering in 2014 & 2015. Ashleigh commented “I am incredibly honored and humbled to have been selected as one of the Seniors of Significance. I am so thankful for the friends, family, faculty, staff, and mentors who have stood by me day in and day out throughout my college career. I would not have been able to do it without them!”

December 15, 2016