30 Under 30 – Page 3 – College of Arts & Sciences

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix

June 19, 2018

While 25-year-old Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is fulfilling his childhood dream—not only playing in the National Football League, but making headlines as an All-Rookie, Pro-Bowler, and top 100 NFL player for the last two years—he’s also been working towards another of his goals. That is, getting his bachelor’s degree. “I remember Nick Saban coming to my house when I was in 11th grade,” Clinton-Dix, now a safety for the Green Bay Packers, said. “I had goals I wanted to accomplish, and […]

Erica Schwalm

June 19, 2018

According to a 2013 report given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year. Worse still, 23,000 of those 2 million people die as a direct result of their infections. “Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem, and people are not necessarily aware,” said Penn State Ph.D. candidate Erica Schwalm. “We go to the doctor, we get a set of antibiotics, and we feel better, but bacteria evolve very quickly to […]

Emma Fick

June 19, 2018

Emma Fick spends half of each year traveling the world. She’s visited roughly three dozen countries, and she pays for it all on an artist’s income—granted, she’s no starving artist. At only 27 years old she’s published two internationally beloved illustrated guides to travel and culture, the second of which has sold 3,000 copies and is on its third print run in less than a year. “It’s really exciting,” Fick said. “And it makes me feel like an art career […]

Emily Seelenfreud

June 19, 2018

Emily Seelenfreund is an unstoppable force. A three-time women’s wheelchair basketball national champion, Teach for America alumna, Harvard Law graduate, and Wolinsky Fellow Attorney at the Disability Rights Advocates, she’s accomplished more at 27 than most accomplish in a lifetime. Seelenfreund’s passion for helping others is just one reason she chose to work at Disability Rights Advocates, or DRA. The legal non-profit firm firm seeks justice for those with disabilities who have experienced a violation of their civil rights. As […]

Danni Heverin

June 19, 2018

The Rockettes are known for their glamour, precision, and determination to be the best. Company member and UA alumna Danni Heverin exemplifies each of these, one eye-high kick at a time. To become one of the Rockettes, Heverin danced for her life against 400 of the best dancers in the world. After several audition cycles, Heverin was cast in the 80-person dance group, but, surprisingly, her favorite performances haven’t taken place in the troupe’s famed Radio City Music Hall. Her […]

Chelsea Lenzner

June 19, 2018

What began as Chelsea Lenzner’s passion project to bring together anime and gaming fanatics for a night of meeting, dancing, and fun in the Ferguson Center is now the largest annual anime convention in the state. Each year, the three-day Kami-Con—replete with anime screenings, cosplay contests, tabletop games, dodgeball tournaments, and even a rave—boasts roughly 10,000 attendees. “We love watching Kami-Con grow,” said Lenzner. “It grows with more attendees. It grows in size and scale. It grows with bigger performances, […]

Cameron Shevlin

June 19, 2018

As a young alumna spearheading her career, Cameron Shevlin is already the director of Impact Alabama, a division of Impact America, which is supported by the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility. Impact America is a non-profit group that serves communities in the Southeast by helping families file their tax returns for free, conducting vision screenings for preschool children, providing college mentors for high-school students preparing to take AP classes, and coaching young debate teams. “Each of our initiatives is […]

Caleb Hill

June 19, 2018

Dr. Caleb Hill is advancing the way the world thinks about sustainable technology using an unexpected source—coal. After receiving his doctorate in physical chemistry from UA in 2014, Hill spent two years at the University of Texas at Austin as a postdoctoral researcher and then became an assistant professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Wyoming in 2016. There, he has started his own laboratory focused on nanoscale chemical analysis. In addition to his academic research, Dr. Hill and […]

Briana Kinsey

June 19, 2018

Pageantry started as a confidence booster for middle-school-aged Briana Kinsey. Now, at 24, she is the reigning Miss District of Columbia, she finished third-runner-up at Miss America, and she has earned upwards of $60,000 in scholarships in the process. “Competing for Miss America was one of those dreams I had kind of moved on from,” said Kinsey, who competed for Miss Alabama for five years before moving to D.C for graduate school. “I had moved outside of my home state, […]

Alan Blinder

June 19, 2018

For the last five years, if there has been a disaster, scandal, trial, election, ruling, or rally in the South, Alan Blinder has covered it. As a reporter for The New York Times, Blinder wrote about the Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February; he’s covered the Roy Moore scandal and the special election of U.S. Senator Doug Jones; and last fall, he was on the ground reporting about Hurricane Harvey and the resulting floods that devastated […]