Two CWRU undergraduates have been named to the 2003 All-USA College Academic teams sponsored by USA Today. Each year, the national newspaper honors outstanding college students from around the country.

Senior Elijah Petersen, a civil engineering and psychology major, has been named to the first team, while Sahar Dar, also a senior, who will earn degrees in economics, international studies, psychology and bioethics, is a member of the second team.

Elijah Petersen

A Johnstown, Pa., native, Petersen said he believes that reaching goals begins with visualization.

"Visualization really helps me achieve all my goals," he said. " I try to focus on what I want to achieve and put my energy toward the things I need to do to accomplish my goals."

If Petersen imagined himself with a 4.0 grade point average, then so far his visualization technique is working. Petersen is working toward a bachelor of arts degree with honors in psychology and a combined bachelor of science and master of science degree in civil engineering.

Petersen has not only served as a supplemental instructor for a CWRU chemistry course but also has co-authored with CWRU senior faculty members scholarly articles in environmental engineering and experimental psychology and submitted them for publication.

He also serves as president of the Mortarboard National Honors Society and a member of the University Undergraduate Faculty Executive Committee. In addition, he has played on the CWRU varsity soccer team and is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Petersen said he imagines using his talents to better the world. That vision also is well on its way to becoming reality. One of Petersen's engineering research projects investigates industrial brown fields and public spaces.

"I'm very grateful and honored to receive this award," Petersen said of the USA Today honor. "The outstanding academic achievement of students who previously received this award really impresses me. I'm just surprised and delighted that I've been selected for the first team award."

Sahar Dar

Sahar is Arabic for dawn or sunrise. And it seems the sun shines brightly on this gifted student.

When Dar, of Westlake, Ohio, graduates summa cum laude in May with a 3.85 GPA. in her undergraduate work and a 4.0 GPA in her graduate studies, she will have accomplished an academically ambitious program in four years. She will earn the bachelor of art degree in the majors of economics, psychology and international studies with honors and the master of art degree in bioethics.

Dar has taken a rigorous course load of some 24-credit hours each semester, while participating in campus activities-and holding offices in many of them-and volunteering in the community. One of her service projects includes 10 years of support to an orphanage in Lahore, Pakistan.

"I believe that education should be used toward the betterment and service of others," Dar said. "I feel that this award epitomizes my commitment to that ideal."

Dar, who was born in the United States but spent two years in Pakistan, where she learned a great deal about her family's culture, can speak Urdu, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi and is learning to master Arabic.

Pursuing her interests in health care, she has had internships at the United Nations Population Fund, where she prepared budgets for projects on HIV/AIDS and aging issues in Asian Pacific countries, and as a reporter for the American Public Health Association's The Nation's Health, a newspaper that goes to 30,000 people, including members of United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.