Three Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences graduates received Academic Leadership Awards and were recognized during the university’s annual Leadership Awards Night last month.

Spring 2021 graduates Zain Abhari, Alyssa Durden, and Angela Seibert were recognized for their outstanding leadership development in their departments and organizations. The awards, sponsored by FSU’s Division of Student Affairs, honor the diverse collection of individuals and groups across campus who engage in leadership learning.

Seibert, an honors graduate from the Department of Biological Science, has served as a member, officer, and president of FSU’s Environmental Service Program over the last four years. She also participated in Surfrider FSU, an organization aimed at engaging students with the environment through education, social events, and political advocacy; Garnet and Gold Goes Green; Florida Association of Environmental Professionals’ Amnesty International; and the Thrift Club.

Working under the advisement of Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of oceanography Jeff Chanton, Seibert completed her thesis on quantifying functional groups, such as carbohydrates, aromatics, and hydroxyl, in soil samples from peatlands, important wetlands that serve as carbon sinks. Analyzing how the levels of these functional groups vary under different humidity conditions can be used to help predict the stability of greenhouse gases within these carbon sinks.

“I was excited, honored, and thankful to be recognized with a Leadership Award. The experiences themselves are memories I will cherish forever, and it’s wonderful to have something that commemorates the journey,” Seibert said.

Outside of FSU, Seibert is a member of the Permafrost Young Researchers Network, the Apalachee Audubon Society and the American Geophysical Union. Following her graduation, she will attend graduate school at Boise State University to pursue a master’s in geosciences and work on the U.S. Department of Energy’s SPRUCE study, a project focused on how climate change affects peatlands.

Durden is a first-generation student and Spring 2021 graduate of the Department of Psychology. In addition to completing a minor in interdepartmental developmental disabilities, she taught an American Sign Language lab, became a member of the ASL honor society, and served on the Florida Behavioral Health IMPACT team, which aims to improve maternal and pediatric access to and delivery of behavioral health care.

“To me, this award means that all the struggles, opposition, and hard work I went through to be here has paid off,” Durden said. “Knowing I have been recognized for my leadership and leaving even the slightest of marks on a school that has changed my life and given me so much is extremely heartwarming. I am grateful beyond words.”

Beyond her role in the psychology department, Durden served as a leader for Tallahassee YoungLife and worked as a bat girl for the FSU Baseball team. She is currently preparing to take the GRE and accumulating patient care hours in order to apply to a physician’s assistant program.

Abhari, who graduated from the Department of Physics in Spring 2021 with a minor in mathematics, served as a member, chief of meetings, and president of the Society of Physics Students throughout four years of undergraduate studies in addition to conducting her own research.

Her first three years consisted of high-energy physics research with the Compact Muon Solenoid group and, her senior year, Abhari researched atomic, molecular, and optical physics with a group at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory operated by Stanford University. She also completed an honors thesis on photo-excited materials, electron dynamics, and atomic motion through extending X-ray domain ghost imaging to optically thick samples, which usually absorb photons and don’t allow light to pass through.

“I’m honored to be recognized by this award. Through SPS and being a learning assistant, I hoped to create a safe place where younger students could make friends and develop a support system,” Abhari said. “This award means that on some level, I accomplished this goal and hopefully helped younger students along their journey of studying physics.”

Abhari is set to pursue a doctoral degree in physics at the University of Wisconsin focusing on atomic, molecular, and optical physics research.

For more about this year’s ceremony, visit leadershipawards.fsu.edu/2021_ceremony.