Chemical Engineering Student Leah Kaplan Wins Freeman Medal

Leah Kaplan has always been passionate about building things, whether it be Lego structures when she was a kid or careers in science diplomacy as a young woman. Now, that love has earned the chemical and environmental engineering major a 2018 Merrill P. Freeman Medal.

The medal -- given annually to two UA seniors for outstanding moral force of character, and one of four university-level senior honors -- is one of many accomplishments Kaplan has attained in her time studying at the UA. She is also part of the Flinn Scholars program, treasurer of the Arizona Model United Nations and president of the UA branch of Tau Beta Pi.

Kaplan has made plenty of headway in her plan to pursue science diplomacy. Her senior year, she was the only undergraduate out of 90 international applicants and 32 attendees selected to attend the 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Science Diplomacy and Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.