A Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston student will receive a BEYA this February.

Amanda Nash, who is a biomedical engineering senior, is receiving the Student Leadership Award, which recognizes an undergraduate or graduate student with an accomplished academic record. The award honors a student with inspiring grades and a proven desire to help others to succeed. Awards are granted separately for student leadership as undergraduates and as graduate students.

Nash will be presented the award during an event at the annual BEYA STEM Conference, which will be held  Feb. 8 to 10 in Washington DC.

Nash was nominated for excellence in biomedical undergraduate research.

“The program was designed for students to be exposed to research,” wrote Vivien Coulson-Thomas, who has been working with Nash since 2016. “However Amanda’s experience has gone well beyond this and she has embraced the research project at a Ph.D. candidate level,” Coulson-Thomas said.

In 2017, Nash was selected as a Program for Mastery in Engineering Studies (PROMES) scholar. A service of the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering, PROMES (pronounced “promise”) provides engineering students with academic advising, workshops, scholarships and professional development opportunities.

Last summer, Nash earned a spot at the NYU School of Medicine Summer Undergraduate Research Program as a PROMES scholar. At the end of her summer undergraduate research experience, she won the Best Poster Award for her studies in developmental genetics.

Weeks after her success, Nash also won the top Presentation Award at the 2017 Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students when she presented her summer project.

As an Undergraduate Research Fellow, Nash has been studying something that could increase the success of bone marrow transplants.

Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston serves the Greater Houston community, Texas and the nation by educating engineers to assume leadership positions in the identification and solution of complex technical challenges, and to advance knowledge through pioneering research and scholarly work.