Karim Abou Najm Memorial Change-Makers Prize

The Change-Makers Prize was established in honor of Karim Abou Najm to recognize high-achieving students at UC Davis pursuing additional skills, training or experiential learning in support of their academic journey. The prize will be awarded to students who are going above and beyond their coursework and seeking learning and growth opportunities that will enhance their skill set and have a positive impact on the world. Karim was not only passionate about research and knowledge, he was also generous with his time and believed in every student’s potential . This prize is meant to reward students that share in Karim’s ambition and humanity.

The Prize amount is $500 and use of funds is at the discretion of the prize winner. The number of prizes will vary annually. Examples of opportunities for students to demonstrate their desire for growth and learning outside of their coursework can include, but are not limited to:

  • Conducting research in a UC Davis laboratory
  • Completing a technical certificate program
  • Engaging in an entrepreneurship initiative
  • Taking specialized coursework outside of UC Davis
  • Doing an Internship or experiential learning

Information Session

Thursday, December 5
4:10–5:00 PM
114 South Hall

The Career Center will be hosting an information session with Karim’s family, previous recipients and prospective applicants to introduce the 2025 application cycle, honor the prize's impact and inspire future recipients. Register to attend. 

Eligibility Criteria

  • Open to any UC Davis undergraduate student graduating in winter 2025 or later. Not open to students graduating in fall 2024.
  • Overall UC GPA of 3.25 OR 3.25 in the last 3 quarters and in good standing.
  • Applicants must be pursuing an opportunity to gain/use skill otherwise not gained in coursework.
  • This opportunity is to be completed by December 17, 2025.

How to Apply: Completed applications must be submitted by December 17, 2024 at 11:59PM PST. Incomplete applications will not be considered. 

Please contact the Career Center at careercenter@ucdavis.edu if you have questions about the application.

Elements of the Application

  • Application Form
    • Biographical information
    • Essay Question (500 words)
    • Resume
    • Unofficial Transcript (to verify GPA)

Honoring Karim

Karim Abou Najm

Karim was born to Majdi Abou Najm and Nadine Yehya in Lebanon. He joined Davis Senior High School and graduated with high honors, before getting accepted to UC Davis. Karim was six weeks away from graduating with a bachelor’s in computer science with honors. While in college, he was also a full-time software engineer interning at multiple companies and working on a software design project to help hearing-impaired people.

Karim at whiteboard

He established his company, Cornische, and participated in the PLASMA program for UC Davis undergraduate entrepreneurs. He was a member of the University Honors Program and received multiple honors and awards.

Karim was awarded the Provost's Undergraduate Fellowship and was designated a National AP Scholar. He won HackDavis 2022 for Most Creative Use of GitHub and HackDavis 2021 for Best Use of Google Cloud. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies, and posthumously received the Undergraduate Honors Program - Research and Innovation Award 2023. 
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Karim was a passionate, smart and caring young man who left us too soon. He’s a loving son, brother and grandson. He meant the world for his family.

For his short journey with us, he accomplished a lot. He took pride in helping others from lessons he learned through his studies and work. He mentored undergraduate computer science students and on-boarded student researchers to Miller Lab at UC Davis. He always gave a shoutout to his colleagues and supported them in finding opportunities on-campus and beyond.

In honor of the legacy Karim has left behind, the Karim Majdi Abou Najm Memorial Undergraduate Student Research Award fund was created to provide stipends to support undergraduate UC Davis students doing research. Visit the webpage to make a donation to the fund .

2024-25 Awardees

Pat Fang, Biological Sciences major with minors in Neuroscience and Theatre

  • Research experience in the Center for Neuroscience and is a board member in Brain and Behavior Research Club.
  • Passionate about expanding access and representation for AAPI community in scientific settings.
  • Will be attending two conferences to further these goals: Northern Student Leadership Drive-In Conference and Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education Conference

Payal Hegde, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior major with minors in Public Health and Psychology

  • Built interactive care platform (I-CARE) for dementia patients and caregivers.
  • Passionate about how technology can be used in healthcare.  
  • Plans to enroll in MIT course on Machine Learning for Healthcare. This course will provide technical tools to help expand I-CARE platform to provide wider range of comprehensive data and alerts. Future goal to be a geriatric medicine physician.

Noelle Law Huynh, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major with a minor in Public Health

  • Interested in American Public Health Association or Department of Health and opportunities to deepen understanding from in-class material and gain hands-on experience with policy to shape healthcare for the public good.
  • Passionate about intersection of biology and science, interested in Public Health policy.
  • Plans to join the UC Washington Program (UCDC) in Winter 2025, where she will intern in a public policy setting.

Amelia Linneman, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior major

  • Plans to earn EMT certification during Winter 2025 through UC Davis Fire Department.
  • Passionate about improving access to emergency medicine within rural and under-resourced areas.
  • Will be participating in UC Global Medicine Brigade medical mission and EMT certification will help gain and apply hands-on skills

Henry (Adrian) Rozo, Political Science major with a minor in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning

  • Demonstrated values of justice, equity and public service will inform future careers in either ethical technology innovation or affordable housing development.
  • Plans to complete the Google Product Management Certificate series in Coursera in order to develop valuable skills such as stakeholder management, team coordination and process optimization that will contribute to ability to realize future positive change in desired career fields.

Meera Shaarani, Animal Science major

  • Future aspirations to become a veterinarian.
  • Looking to deepen their understanding of the concept of One Health -- that the health of people, the environment and animals are interconnected.
  • Plans to participate in an internship abroad at the Toucan Rescue Ranch in Costa Rica in order to better understand the role of wildlife veterinarians in preventing the spread of zoonotic disease.

Shanlea (Sen) Tabofunda, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior major with minor in Sociology

  • Heavily involved in pre-medical student community, with multiple research, clinical and leadership experiences.
  • Future career goal is to be a physician-researcher, i.e. a clinician who also conducts original research.
  • Plans to present their current research contributions at two undergraduate-focused research conferences: the National Collegiate Research Conference, and the New England Science Symposium

Isabelle Villanueva, Art History and Anthropology major with a minor in Museum Studies

  • Future goal is to become an Art Historian, specifically focused on advancing the non-western canon of art history and bringing representation of Phillipine art and culture
  • Passionate about diversifying representation within the field of Art History
  • Plans to participate in a summer internship at the Newberry Research Library in Chicago where they will assist in planning and implementing a Phillipine History Symposium