Raheema Al Karim Damani and Samain Sabrin were named the UAB Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Students of the Year, respectively, Tuesday night at the Engineering Council of Birmingham’s (ECOB) 63rd Annual Awards Banquet.

The two students were chosen from a field of five undergraduate nominees and eight graduate-student nominees. Each of the nominees was recognized as the student of the year from their respective departments or programs.

In addition to the student awards, School of Engineering Dean Jeff Holmes, M.D., Ph.D., gave the keynote speech at the event. In his speech, Holmes gave a brief overview of the school, updating attendees on key school initiatives, such as guaranteed internships, scholarships for underrepresented students, and an update on the plans for a new engineering building in the UAB Science and Engineering Complex.

“It was a real privilege to be able to present to this group, which includes so many of our alumni and stakeholders from across all disciplines in the local engineering community,” Holmes said. “But the real focus of this event is on our student winners and other honorees. To be publicly recognized by this group of engineering and business leaders is a real achievement, and I was happy to be here to celebrate with all of our student nominees.”

Undergraduate of the Year

Raheema Al Karim Damani is an undergraduate biomedical engineering student who has held a variety of internship roles in labs such as the Sorace Multimodality Cancer Imaging Lab at UAB, as well as the Tearney Lab at Wellman Center and the Rehemtulla Lab at the University of Michigan. She holds a 4.0 grade point average and has been on the UAB President’s List. She is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, and Pi Kappa Phi, and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).

In addition to Damani, other undergraduate nominees were Ashton Moore (CCEE), Kaylee Dill (ECE), Hannah Blansett (MSE), and Benjamin Cockrell (ME).

Graduate of the Year

Samain Sabrin is pursuing a Ph.D. in Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. In addition to holding a 4.0 grade-point average, she is involved a number of organizations, including the Institute of Transportation Engineers, Women in STEM, and the Society of Women Engineers. She was also nominated as the CCEE graduate engineer of the year for 2021.

Sabrin is the recipient of a Graduate Research Fellowship and is a lab instructor in multiple UAB courses. She conducts research in the Sustainable Smart Cities Research Center where she is mentored by Rouzbeh Nazari, Ph.D.

In addition to Sabrin, other graduate nominees were Khanh Tu Nguyen (BME), Reepa Saha (ECE), Yongzhe Yan (MSE), Austin Stump (ME), Samantha Rizzuto (IEM), Jessica DeVille (SSC), and Adeel Ali Memon, M.D.