Four Engineering Students Among those Selected for the 2026 Millennium Fellowship Class

LAWRENCE — Selected from a record-breaking 76,000 applicants from more than 6,000 campuses worldwide, 21 University of Kansas students were recently chosen for the 2026 Millennium Fellowship, a leadership development program that partners with the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and is overseen by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN).

The fellowship provides resources and mentorship for students as they take part in actionable, community-based projects, guided by UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UNAI principles, a list of 10 commitments including human rights, educational opportunity, and peace and conflict resolution.  

KU's University Honors Program and Center for Global & International Studies have coordinated KU’s UNAI membership since 2022, with an initial Millennium Fellowship cohort of 12. The following KU students are a part of this year's cohort, which includes 5,500 students from more than 330 campuses in 60 countries:  

• Zeina Ahmed, a senior in human biology from Overland Park. 
• Dario Arizpe Gomez, a senior in architectural studies from Eagle Pass, Texas. 
• Sina Asheghalishahi, a senior in computer science from Kansas City, Missouri. 
• Aadhya Bhatia, a junior in chemistry from Overland Park.  
• Andrea Cerna, a sophomore in pre-clinical laboratory science from Olathe. 
• Sai Supritha Chakravadhanula, a junior in behavioral neuroscience from Olathe. 
• Aidan Foust, a senior in global & international studies and psychology from Olathe.
• Justyna Hayslett, a senior in chemical engineering from Leawood. 
• Sydney Henley, a senior in behavioral neuroscience and biology from Omaha, Nebraska. 
• Danny Jack, a senior in biochemistry, microbiology and molecular, cellular & developmental biology from Junction City, Oregon. 
• Katherine Koplik, a senior in economics from Overland Park. 
• Thomas Loub, a senior in chemistry from Manhattan. 
• Suhana Mohammed, a sophomore in aerospace engineering from Overland Park. 
• Nicholas Moran, a senior in architectural studies from St. Louis. 
• Devon Nguyen, a senior in microbiology from Wichita. 
• Naveena Ninan, a senior in in molecular biology from Alappuzha, Kerala, India. 
• Jyoshika Padmanaban, a senior in molecular biology from Overland Park. 
• Aarjo Roy, a senior in biochemistry from Overland Park. 
• Valeria Solis, a junior in journalism and political science from Garden City. 
• Griffin Wynn, a senior in Francophone & Italian studies, global & international studies and political science from Lawrence. 
• Amir Unz, a senior in aerospace engineering from Ramat Gan, Israel. 

This year, Aarjo Roy and Aadhya Bhatia are serving as campus hub co-directors. As a co-director, Roy described how he and Bhatia’s goal is to make sure that students have the resources they need for their projects to reach their full potential. 

“We, as humans, depend on one another, and that's something that I'm really looking forward to continuing in the future,” said Roy, who was also selected to receive a 2026 Coachtopia scholarship to support his work on a community-oriented and sustainability-related project. 

In his campus mentor role, honors program student experience designer Mauricio Gómez Montoya creates structure for the program’s application process. As fellows create networks and competencies, said Gómez Montoya, he sees them build their own sense of capacity, responsibility and confidence. 

“While these projects have very different targets and scopes and intended audiences, I think the most overlapping quality is that they all want to improve people's lives in some way, which I think is pretty admirable,” Gómez Montoya said. “Students are seeing themselves not only as residents in their community but active change agents in making people's lives better.” 

The fellowship concludes in November with the presentation of certificates for fellows who complete their project. Many of KU’s fellows will then incorporate their experience into sessions for the 2027 Common Cause symposium in January, which will focus on UN SDG 15, Life on Land.   

Those interested in the Millennium Fellowship or UNAI affiliation can contact Gómez Montoya at  mauriciogomez@ku.edu. MCN also offers an interest form for students planning to apply for the Class of 2027 at the fellowship’s website.