JUNIOR COHORT: Integrity

Vivek Beeram

Plan II and Neuroscience

I am filled with gratitude as I look back to my last two years in this program and the next to come. Our higher-educational infancy is ending; we are coming into being in the world and I couldn’t ask for better people to do it with. The Dedman Program is filled with kind and passionate people each seeking to change their corner of the world, and my days are brightened every time I run into them.

This year, through the funding of the Dedman Program, I traveled to conferences on medical imaging. I was able to discuss my research with UTHSCSA on liver segment imaging with leaders in the field, and I took classes on computer vision and NN architecture which gave me tools I hope to apply in my future work. In my sophomore year, I’ve continued research in a computational neuroscience lab, worked as an EMT around Austin and San Antonio, and started a business working on novel approaches to memory care. I especially enjoyed my Intro to Philosophy and Neural Systems II courses. They each left me with many questions that I’m excited to pursue further in my studies this upcoming semester.

I hiked, climbed, fell (often), fought, finished a book I’ve been reading for 4 years, and made countless memories with wonderful people. I can’t wait to begin this junior year and continue our cohort’s breakfast roundtables and study sessions in the office.

Evie Brousseau

Plan II

During my sophomore year at UT, I have focused on building strong and meaningful connections with my peers, professors, and mentors. Of course, the Dedman community is the source of many incredible friendships. Dr. Anderson and the integrity cohort always uplift my Thursday mornings during our weekly cohort breakfast. I am deeply grateful to the Dedman community for the unending support and kindness. I am also thankful for the vulnerability and strength of all the friends I have made in various clubs and activities. During this past year, I have opened up to opportunities I never expected and learned more about myself than ever before, and for that I credit the wonderful people of UT and the Dedman community.

During my sophomore year, I have given myself the latitude to explore more of my various interests and the many opportunities available to me. At Apricity Magazine, I have continued to read submissions of nonfiction, poetry, and fiction from all over the world. I have also built incredible friendships with the rest of the literary team at Apricity, and I am honored to be taking over as Literary Editor next year.

I also worked as a research assistant for Dr. Birkholz, where I helped with a new (to me) and unexpected method of study in the digital humanities. Among many other tasks, I assisted in uncovering the life of Roger de Breynton by georeferencing place names in documents from the 14th century. It was fascinating to be a part of a project that sought to uncover and visualize medieval life through georeferencing and network analysis.

This year, I also focused on my other interests in sustainability and environmental issues. For my Maymester course on land–use issues in Costa Rica, I took a semester–long class in which we explored environmental issues and conservation efforts. My trip to Costa Rica for the Maymester was unforgettable and transformative. By the end, I was left with many new but astonishingly deep friendships and lots of questions. I am excited to continue to explore issues of environment and sustainability through a BDP certificate next year.

This summer I will also embark on a trip to Oxford to study the greats— Shakespeare and the Brontës. I am grateful to the Dedman family for making this possible, and cannot wait to begin!

Caroline Parnell

Plan II/Biochemistry

It feels like it was just yesterday that I was writing my last Dedman bio in between Spikeball games in the Wyoming Winds. It’s hard to believe that it is time to write bios again. My second year at UT has flown by so fast. My days have been filled with mentoring freshmen in lab, research and research presentations, volunteering at St. David’s Medical Center, two stepping at the Broken Spoke, climbing at Maggie’s Wall, and trail runs on the Greenbelt.

As my freshman year taught me to appreciate the unpredictability of life, my sophomore year has instilled in me an appreciation for taking time to create memories. Thanks to the generous support of the Dedman Family, I was able to study cultural memory in Vienna, Austria this summer. In studying the ways in which we interact with and remember our own history, I have been forced to think harder about my own interactions with time and memory.

I quickly fell in love with Viennese coffee house culture. This culture (which is on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list) is characterized by the lack of pressure to order, move, or move on. Time comes to a stand still and people sit for hours and hours on end without being pressured to leave or buy something else. As I embrace the Viennese pressureless lifestyle, I have learned to take time to slow down and appreciate the space I occupy and the people with whom I am blessed to share it.

Going into my junior year, I hope to slow down and savor the moments that will become memories. In the end, we don’t always remember the things that we have done or the accomplishments we have earned. We remember the people with whom we share those moments. Looking back on my sophomore year, I will remember Thursday morning coffee with Integrity. I’ll remember spending hours making homemade ravioli with Ashley and Nina just to eat it within 5 minutes. I’ll remember running through the Lake Austin HEB with Chase debating the best pasta sauce, allegedly throwing chalk at Evie in philosophy, and yelling “feet!” at Vivek whenever he looks even a little bit stuck on a climb.

As I take time to reflect on my memories from sophomore year, I feel deeply appreciative of the friends and family that I have met in the Dedman Distinguished Scholars Program. I am looking forward to what life has in store for me and my fellow Dedmans this coming year. I am more than excited to take time to slow things down and to treasure these moments and the people who will be with me along the way.

Chase Patterson

Plan II and English

Halfway through. It’s going by in a breeze. In my Sophomore year, I took some of the best courses I’ve taken in my entire life, and learned things which have shaped the potential path of my academic career.

In my classes on Chaucer and Poetic Forms, I studied the progression of poetry from the medieval era to now. In my Creative Writing class, I studied the techniques behind effective storytelling. Using these lessons, I was able to spend this year improving my poetry writing and expanding my short fiction portfolio. This has also inspired me to write a short fantasy novel for my senior year thesis.

About two weeks from now, I’ll be flying out to the UK with a few of my fellow English majors for the English department’s Oxford study abroad program where I’ll be taking a course on Shakespeare as well
as Post–Colonial Fantasy Literature. Because this will be my first time in Europe, I’ll be taking advantage of the weekends to visit places I’ve never seen before.

I’ll be returning to the states at the beginning of the Fall semester with plenty of stories and hopefully a
few completed chapters of my thesis novel.

Ashley Smith

Plan II and International Relations & Global Studies

By the end of my freshman year, UT had become a place I happily associated with comfort. I then spent this past year challenging myself to say “yes” to a multitude of new experiences. I am grateful for the personal and professional growth that has resulted from the discomfort I embraced this year.

As a part of COLA’s Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program, I worked with the Innovations for Peace and Development (IPD) Lab on a project analyzing how bureaucrats’ responses to correspondences are impacted by constituents’ various identities. Over the past two semesters, I have been introduced to the behind–the–scenes of political science research and am committed to continuing my work on this project as we hope to launch our study nationwide.

After completing my Arabic minor in the fall, I started working towards a Public Policy Bridging Disciplines Certificate this past spring and took “Human Rights & World Politics,” which has been my favorite class at UT so far. It has been rewarding to see the theories, frameworks, and case studies from my individual courses connect and equip me with the expertise necessary to pursue international policy work.

I also had the privilege of serving as a legislative aide for the 88th Texas Legislature in the spring. I have always envisioned myself in a bureaucratic government role, but I wanted to take advantage of living in our state’s capital and increase my knowledge of Texas politics. While my long–term career plans have not changed, I gained more hands–on experience throughout this legislative session than I ever could have in the classroom.

With the full return to in–person classes and events, it was wonderful to get to interact with more of the Dedman community, and I especially enjoyed my cohort’s weekly breakfast at Medici. I probably spent more time this past year in the Dedman Suite than I did at my own apartment, and I am eager to create more memories with my fellow scholars.

This summer, I am working for Austin’s Office of the City Auditor as a Performance Audit Intern, which involves analyzing whether the city’s programs and policies are being implemented and best serving the needs of our community. This fall, I am looking forward to my Plan II heavy course load, my continued research with the IPD Lab, and serving as a Plan II Peer Pod Mentor. With the support of the Dedman family, I will be spending Spring 2024 interning and taking courses in Washington D.C. as part of the inaugural LBJ Undergraduate Global Policy Semester.

The Dedman program has provided me with the community and confidence necessary to explore the numerous opportunities available to me, and I am excited to see what the next year has in store!