Student Perspective: Kendall Lyons

Name: Kendall Lyons

Year: Senior

Hometown: Black Diamond, WA

Major: Biomedical Engineering, Data Analytics

Minors: Mathematics

Career Goal/ Future education plans: I intend to continue my education next year at the University of Idaho in their Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Masters program! This program operates at the intersection of computer science, applied mathematics, and biology.

Involvement/ Leadership roles and what each entail:

I have several campus involvements as I deem these experiences to be integral to my college experience. This semester is my sixth serving as a teaching assistant for the Engineering 120 lecture and lab, a position that has allowed me to interact with countless undergraduate engineers. I have also spent three semesters working at the Student Recreation Center as a membership attendant and member of the Student Employee Advisory Council, which has further allowed me to connect with other students on campus. I have also been involved with the Data Analytics Club, presenting on resume making, past internship experiences, and mentorship.

How has the Honors College impacted your time at WSU? 

The Honors college has had a huge impact on my college experience, specifically in their willingness to fund my research endeavors. The Dean’s Notable Achievement Fund allowed me to travel to Paris, France in Summer 2023 to conduct ocular research at Universite Cite Paris’ MAP5 lab. The ability to travel to France for this project was not only instrumental in my own personal development but also led to the publication of my first scholarly article this fall.

Memorable honors experiences?

I have had several memorable honors experiences, with most originating from the outstanding professors that I have had the pleasure to be taught by within the college. I have found all my honors professors to have an infectious kind of enthusiasm about the topics they teach, a trait that I have not found to transcend the rest of my courses. One particularly special moment came last year in Dr. Sun’s class on memorialization when I learned that Dr. Sun had been my dad’s professor when he attended WSU as a student (class of 1997)!

Advice for an incoming Honors student?

The Honors College has allowed me to be involved with activities and experiences that I never thought were possible for me and has given me the support to feel confident in my ability to succeed in these things. My advice to an incoming student would be to connect with Honors professors and faculty as they have been some of the most valuable connections I have made throughout my college career.