The University has announced the two President’s Medalists for the Class of 2011. The selections were made based on overall academic achievement not limited to grade point average.
Jacob T. Bobman is the four-year medalist. He came to the UW from Mercer Island High School and is graduating with a BS in mathematics and a BA in biochemistry. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and will graduate summa cum laude.
Bobman is a Washington State Scholar, for which he received a four-year full tuition scholarship. He has worked in the laboratory of a UW professor since 2009, conducting neuroscience research. He also has been writing an honors master’s thesis on cryptography research. He has been a volunteer at Nova High School, an alternative school in Seattle for students who have not had success in a traditional classroom setting.
Bobman has been accepted to medical school and will begin later this summer. He is planning a career in academic medicine, combining his interests in patient care and research.
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Quyen Nguyen has been selected as transfer President’s Medalist. She entered the UW from Seattle Central Community College and will graduate with a BS in biochemistry.
Her parents still live in Vietnam, while she and her older brother are in the U.S. She came to the U.S. just four years ago. “My father was unable to finish his degree in physics and my mother had to stop working as a physician due to financial difficulties. Wishing me to have a bright future, my parents decided to let me study abroad,” she said.
Nguyen is planning a career as a pharmacist, so she will be continuing her education this fall in the PharmD degree program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.