The IUPUI Alumni Council and the Student Organization for Alumni Relations will recognize the campus’s top 100 juniors and seniors during the 16th Annual IUPUI Top 100 Outstanding Students Recognition Dinner on Friday, April 10, 2015 at the Indianapolis Marriott.

Students will be recognized for scholastic achievement, extracurricular activities on campus, and civic and community service. A panel of alumni, faculty and staff selected the top students based on nominations by faculty and staff.

Wiaam Eklhatib, of Indianapolis, IN, is being recognized as one of IUPUI’s Top 100 Outstanding Students for 2015. This recognition was earned, in part, due to the research he conducted during his study abroad research project with Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC) in the spring of 2014.

“I had the amazing opportunity through the I.U.P.U.I Honors College to conduct a one week study abroad program in London, UK and also Paris, France,” said Eklhatib of his study abroad trip. The experience was part of a semester long sociology course and focused on the structure of different societies, especially in the fields of homelessness, urban life, and healthcare. Eklhatib spent five days in London and two in Paris. His research dealt with preventative healthcare in the urban environment of London and Paris.

The research initiative served to reiterate understood concepts while providing theoretical justifications of the already known poor health conditions in the impoverished communities that affect class system relocation. The idea was to create potential future solutions that could be applied beyond Europe and in my local community. Areas of specific focus for the observational research excursion included health practices around food in restaurants, litter and waste management in cities, resources available for the homeless, public health campaigns via advertisements, and types of popular foods with regard to portion size and nutritional value. Objectives of learning included gaining observational data to affirm this hypothesis in detail, reflecting on methodologies used, and justifying such data from a sociological perspective with the ultimate goal of providing potential solutions. Specific results from this pilot study provided mixed results for all cities, but seemed to overall support the initial hypothesis. The research findings were presented at a poster session at both IUPUC and IUPUI.