“Even if you get an answer, you still need to know why.”

That advice from a high-school calculus teacher and math team coach sparked an intellectual awakening in Ameen Barghi. “Before that, my goals had just been utilitarian—I tried to circle the answer as soon as possible,” says the Birmingham native. “She instilled this constant curiosity, this constant passion.”

Now that curiosity will lead Barghi to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar—the third in UAB’s history and one of 32 U.S. students selected for the prestigious honor for 2015.