FIU graduates leverage their education to find solutions and make a real difference | FIU News

• Amelia Raudales, 21, turned her expertise as a survivor of childhood sexual assault into social and political motion. Through FIU’s Diplomacy Lab, she carried out analysis for the State Department on trafficking, and as a congressional intern in Washington, D.C., she advocated for survivors’ rights. During the pandemic, she based “Ame’s Crafts,” stitching facemasks and headbands and donating all income to organizations addressing human trafficking. Raudales additionally created an app that enhances in-kind giving, helps alleviate poverty and fosters sustainability. Part of the Honors College, she goals of turning into a lawyer to struggle for victims of sexual assault. She will spend the summer time at Harvard Law School finding out for the LSAT. On Saturday, April 30 at 10 a.m., Raudales will graduate with a bachelor’s in worldwide relations from the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs.
• Despite being terminally in poor health and in hospice care, Tiffany Calestina, 34, will graduate with a grasp’s in hospitality and tourism administration from the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. Diagnosed with a mind tumor that prompted seizures, docs tried and failed to take away the tumor, which prompted imaginative and prescient and listening to loss on her proper aspect. Calestina additionally suffers from a number of sclerosis, lupus, Sjogren’s syndrome, and had a mastectomy after being identified with breast most cancers. Despite the fixed ache, she is a constructive drive with a ardour for occasions. She works as an occasions supervisor, coordinating weddings, company occasions, and events. After commencement she needs to add to her occasion expertise and work within the subject of analysis or as a instructor.
• Along together with his mentor and FIU Engineering professor Arif Sarwat, Asadullah Khalid, 31,  led the event of the FIU Engineering Center’s microgrid – in partnership with FPL. Microgrid expertise can tackle wants for resiliency that may save folks’s lives by maintaining electrical energy working safely via excessive climate occasions. Khalid’s work has led to 15 technical papers and a U.S. patent, with two patents pending. After commencement on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m., he’ll work for a start-up firm, analyzing renewable battery and battery administration methods in microgrids and electrical automobiles. Khalid graduates with a Ph.D. in electrical and pc engineering from the College of Engineering & Computing.
• Combining her ardour for forensics and biochemistry, Chantrell Frazier, 28, has acquired worldwide funding to conduct her groundbreaking analysis on the chemical and organic features of human odor for forensic identification. Frazier additionally has been researching how human odors entice mosquitos, expertise that can support the struggle towards mosquito-borne illnesses. The first black girl to earn her Ph.D. in biochemistry from FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences and Education, Frazier will be part of the school at Framingham State University as a postdoctoral educating fellow in chemistry and hopes to encourage extra girls of coloration to pursue STEM levels. She will graduate on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m.
• After being identified with a uncommon congenital coronary heart illness (CHD) that wanted speedy consideration, Maria Segura, 30, traveled to Miami from her native Costa Rica to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to bear coronary heart restore surgical procedure. Because of her expertise, she got here up with an concept to assist children with CHDs find out about their illness and perceive how docs plan to assist them. Through her work with members of TOM Global FIU, that concept turned a actuality known as “Heart House,” a 3D-printed instructional toy, that’s now getting used at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. Segura graduates on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. with a grasp’s in inside structure from the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts. After commencement, she plans to work within the inside design business in Miami and Costa Rica.

FIU spring graduation will happen at FIU Stadium, 11310 SW 17 St., Miami, FL 33199. on Saturday, April 30 and Sunday May 1, 2022, with ceremonies at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. every day.