A UMES senior is among the 12 inaugural recipients of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Student Excellence Scholarships. The award is the highest honor that the board awards to recognize exemplary student achievement. Scholarships are presented in four categories: academics, scholarship and research; innovation and creative activity; leadership and advocacy; and outreach and engagement.
Isaac Omodia, an awardee in the category of academics, scholarship and research, will receive a $2,000 scholarship from the USM and its foundation. It was through undergraduate research with physics professor Kausik Das that the aerospace engineering major was connected to unique internship opportunities with top institutions.
Omadia spent last summer as a research intern at Harvard University in Dr. L. Mahadevan’s laboratory, where he helped develop an experimental prototype to investigate the adhesive effect of induced vibration on a thin elastic sheet. Another summer internship saw him completing a nanofabrication process research internship at Brookhaven National Laboratory with Dr. Gregory Doerk. Last fall, Omadia participated in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Access Program.
“I was able to succeed on these projects with the guidance of my research mentor Dr. Kausik Das from the Department of Natural Sciences and with funding and support from UMES’ LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation) program,” Omadia said. “The care and level of education I received at UMES was extraordinary, and I thank all of my professors and mentors. It is an incredible feeling to have my hard work and dedication to academics and research recognized in this way.”
“Isaac is commended for his passion for research, leadership, commitment to lab protocols and willingness to help his fellow students. He is a role model for undergraduate students not only at UMES but anywhere,” Das said. “Without the agencies that have generously funded his research over the past three years, it would not have been possible.” Das lists the National Science Foundation (HBCU-UP Award #1719425), the Department of Education (MSEIP Award #P120A70068) with a MSEIP CCEM grant and the Maryland Space Grant Consortium.
Omadia’s has published in a “high-impact peer reviewed research paper on microfluidic mixing” in Physics of Fluids Das said and is in the process of publishing two additional papers.
