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 $750 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

Eligibility Criteria

  • Open to any UC Davis undergraduate student graduating in winter 2026 or later. Not open to students graduating in fall 2025.
  • 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, 2026.

How to Apply: Applications are currently closed.

Elements of the Application

  • Application Form
    • Biographical information
    • Resume (.pdf format)
    • Essay Question - the essay question is provided below so that applicants may review it and prepare their response in advance of submitting their application. 

Essay Question: Please describe your plans to take initiative to go “above and beyond” your academic requirements to obtain skills related to your professional goals. What type of experience are you planning for, what skills are you hoping to gain, and how do you plan to utilize them? How would this impact your perspective on your chosen field and your ability to contribute to positive change in the world? (Please provide details and specific examples related to the opportunity in your response, and limit your response to no more than 2,750 characters / about 500 words or less.) 

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 .

Recipients of the 2026 Karim Abou Najm Memorial Change-Makers Prize

Tory Jacobs, Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning major with Minors in Geology and GIS

  • As a recipient of the Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship research grant, she spent a quarter doing research at the UC Davis Bodega Bay facility
  • Is passionate about using hands-on, interdisciplinary Earth science research, especially in glacial and coastal systems, to inform environmental protection and planning
  • Will attend the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) summer 2026 where she hopes to gain advanced field skills, and will eventually pursue graduate study in cryoscience and glaciology

Lily Fakrogha, Global Disease Biology major

  • Has been participating in campus research studying genetic and environmental factors in neurodevelopmental disorders
  • Aims to become a pediatrician serving underserved communities, advancing child health through research, global health work, and equitable clinical leadership
  • Will participate in a summer 2026 study abroad program in Ghana to work in a health clinic focused on pediatric and maternal care in an area with limited resources 

Jasmeen Kaur, Biological Sciences major

  • Is in the University Honors Program and a volunteer in the undergraduate-founded Santokh Sehat Clinic supporting community health education and outreach within the Sikh community
  • Hopes to build leadership, community outreach, and program management skills for a future healthcare career
  • Will create a free science-learning program that helps elementary school children build early STEM skills using hands-on activities and more accessible educational materials

Huy Tran, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major

  • Volunteers at the VN CARES clinic as a patient advocate committed to supporting patients from locally underserved communities, especially Vietnamese-American and elderly patients
  • Was inspired to become a physician bridging culture with care after observing how the challenges faced by patients can be exacerbated by language and cultural differences
  • Will earn his Emergency Medical Technician certificate (EMT) and be able to volunteer / work serving patients while an undergraduate at UC Davis

Tatiana Dorrestein, Environmental Engineering major

  • Volunteers with the American River Conservancy collecting water quality data supporting the work of protecting habitat, native fisheries, scenic vistas, and recreational lands
  • Is dedicated to advancing water quality research, sustainable infrastructure design, and environmental restoration, especially in water management systems
  • Will earn Envision Certification from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and use those skills to benefit Sustainable Solutions, an American Society of Civil Engineers project team in designing a project proposal for a sustainable data center

Iliya Voytsyshyn, Systems and Synthetic Biology major

  • Performs translational oncology research on telomere regulation in an on-campus lab on as part of the CURE program funded by the National Cancer Institute
  • Combines traditional lab skills with computational and engineering skills to develop new tools in cancer research
  • Is building, testing, and upgrading an R/Shiny pipeline to automate telomere microscopy analysis in an open-source format which makes the tool accessible to researchers with limited resources

Chloe Cota, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major

  • Works as the Student Health and Wellness Coordinator with Health Education and Promotion staff at UC Davis, as well as conducting research in campus labs
  • Recently earned her Phlebotomy certification
  • Will expand volunteer tasks at the Knights Landing Student-Run Clinic, serving mainly low-income Latinx migrant farmworkers who face various barriers to healthcare, from more administrative tasks to also include phlebotomy, increasing patients’ access to that service 

Taylor Chin, Mechanical Engineering major

  • Is an intern at Elve, Inc., a telecommunications startup in Davis; previously interned on an infrastructure project at San Francisco International Airport
  • Hopes to inspire more girls and young women to participate in the engineering field
  • Will attend the World Engineering (WE) conference, hosted by Society of Women Engineers (SWE), in Boston in November 2026, hoping to learn about emerging technologies, strengthen her leadership skills, and gain perspective on advancing gender equity

Jailene Rodriguez, Cell Biology major

  • Works as a student researcher in the Department of Pharmacology on projects studying heart disease and failure; previously volunteered in research at the City of Hope
  • Committed to biological research and clear science communication that makes complex health information understandable and inclusive for the public
  • Will take the “Data-Driven Animation for Science Communication” course on Coursera to support her ability to inform others on her current work, and support her future as a cell biology faculty instructor and researcher

Shreya Dandamudi, Human Biology major with a Public Health minor

  • Currently performing research at the California National Primate Research Center on how global warming affects the developmental physiology and behavior of rhesus macaques, and is first author on the planned publication of that research
  • Hopes to become a physician advocating preventative, systems-level health approaches, addressing environmental stressors and health equity through research and policy engagement
  • Plans to present her research at the International Conference on Climate Change and Human Health Impacts in Santa Clara, CA

Chelsea Nnajiofor, Anthropology (BS) major, Public Health minor 

  • Has been a volunteer doula at Sutter Health Davis Hospital and volunteers with IRTH, an organization which helps build community and reduce bias in maternal health, particularly for Black women
  • Hopes to become an obstetrics provider committed to women’s health advocacy through education and community outreach, especially for rural and marginalized populations
  • Plans to earn formal Doula Certification in order to expand her ability to provide emotional and physical support to women in the labor and delivery room