Graduation is on May 23rd – congrats to the optometry and vision science class of 2025! On Tuesday May 20th, we held our annual Fourth Year Awards Ceremony at the Doubletree Berkeley Marina Hotel, honoring the most outstanding students of the graduating Doctor of Optometry class, as well as the Professional Student Support Fund (PSSF) scholarship awardees. Two awards were also presented to the faculty: Dr. Debora Lee Chen ws awarded the Dr. Roy Brandreth Teaching Award and Dr. Marlena Chu was awarded the Dr. Michael G. Harris Family Classroom Teaching Award. Congratulations to our exceptional awardees and to the graduating class of 2025!
Graduation With Honors in Research
Julien Cyrill Atayan Belen
Title: Beyond V1: The Impact of Visual Acuity on Fixational Eye Movements
Mentor: Sunwoo Kwon, PhD and Dennis Levi, OD, PhD
Clara Friedman
Title: Naturally-Occurring Visual Cues for Figure-Ground Segregation in MT
Mentor: Emily Cooper, PhD
Alisa Molina
Title: Tear Aqueous Production Rate Between Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Soft Lens Wearers
Mentor: Meng C. Lin, OD, PhD
Jessica Zhang
Title: Comparison of Two Pediatric Stereoacuity Tests: The BEST Way to PASS A Stereoacuity Test
Mentor: Deborah Orel-Bixler, OD, PhD
Gold Retinoscope Award
Julien Cyrill Atayan BelenBeta Sigma Kappa Silver Medal Award
Julien Cyrill Atayan BelenFourth Year Awards
Ina Wang
Eschenbach Low Vision Award
Tanya Nguyen
Good-Lite Excellence in Pediatric Award
Megan E. Sajer
Good-Lite Excellence in Therapy and Rehabilitation Award
Isela Orozco
GPLI Contact Lens Clinical Excellence Award
Amy Zheng
Home Therapy Systems Award
Jennifer Liang
HOYA Student Leadership Award
Michael Nguyen
J & J Award of Excellence in Contact Lens Patient Care
Gonzalo J. Chocano
ODVRA Binocular Vision Award
Jordan L. Kennedy
Optelec Excellence in Low Vision Award
Tiffany Lau
Robert Greer Excellence in Low Vision Award
Alisa Molina
Dr. Roy Brandreth Scholarship Fund
Isela Orozco
VSP Vision and American Academy of Optometry Foundation Practice Excellence Scholarship: Bernhardt N. Thal, OD
Jessica JQ Wang
VSP Vision and American Academy of Optometry Foundation Practice Excellence Scholarship: Marvin R. Poston, OD
Baldemar Torres
William Feinbloom Low Vision Award
ThuVan Thi Nguyen
Dr. William Harrison Memorial Fund
Ina Wang
Dr. Justin Kwan Scholarship
Keith Daigo Uyemura
See more photos from the event by clicking the button below.
Photos