UA STUDENT SELECTED TO USA TODAY ALL-USA COLLEGE ACADEMIC TEAM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — USA Today announced its 2001 All-USA College Academic Team today, which included University of Arkansas senior Michael Berumen as an honorable mention.

Top students are recognized by the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team. Thousands apply each year, and it is quite an honor to be selected as one of the top 100 scholars. Students are chosen based on their grades, awards, activities, leadership roles and public service.

"Michael Berumen very much deserves to be in this good company," said Suzanne McCray, office of post-graduate fellowships director. "He is an energetic and talented student who has made the most of his time on our campus. Michael loves research and combined that with his love for scuba diving during his study-abroad year in Australia, studying the foraging habits of butterfly fish."

The senior zoology major from Fort Smith mastered the skill of scuba diving at age 13 when he received certification in the Cayman Islands, influencing a decision that changed the course of his life.

Berumen, a 1998 graduate of Southside High School in Fort Smith, entered the University of Arkansas with a Sturgis Fellowship, an Arkansas Governor's Scholarship and the determination to follow his father's example and become a doctor. In 1999, he received a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, which, in combination with the Sturgis Fellowship, gave him the opportunity to study abroad.

"Going abroad gives you the chance to study subjects that may not be available at home," Berumen said.

Drawing on his passion for scuba diving and his fascination with fish, he decided to study marine science at a university world-renowned for its marine science program, James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. For seven months, under the watchful eye of his mentor, Morgan Pratchett, associate researcher and associate lecturer with the university, he studied butterflyfish and the ecological impacts of their foraging behaviors at the Lizard Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef. His research abroad culminated in October 2000 with the presentation of a paper at one of the largest marine biology conferences in the world, the Ninth International Coral Reef Symposium in Bali, Indonesia.

"The opportunity to do independent research was a chance to ask and answer my own questions. This defined for me the meaning of science," he said. "I found a passion within me, one that became a central part of my life. It is hard for me to imagine my life now without marine biology even after only such a relatively short period of involvement."

Berumen's experience abroad had a huge impact on him both culturally and academically. Living halfway around the world and 28 hours away from his family, he established a new independence

"I have a new perspective on many things, more than simply science and culture. A new type of identity has emerged within me - something more than a name and a major," he said.

"I know what excites me intellectually, and I plan to pursue graduate work back in Australia, in marine biology. I haven’t totally eliminated my interest in medical school; I have simply found something that I love and want to continue."

Berumen is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Mike and Nancy Berumen of Fort Smith.

Since 1990, the University of Arkansas has had several students recognized in the USA Today competition. Warwick Sabin received the Truman and the Marshall Scholarships and received an MPHIL degree from Oxford University. Angie Maxwell, a team member last year, was also selected as a Truman and is in her first year of graduate school at the University of Texas.

UA students who have received recognition as an "Honorable Mention" have gone on to amazing careers. Joanna Long Claus (Little Rock) now has a Ph.D. in chemistry from MIT. Nam Le (Ft. Smith, Northside), a Barry Goldwater Scholar, is in the MD/PhD program at Washington University. Amy Drake (Rogers) is now in an MD program at Johns Hopkins

University. Jason Reed, an honorable mention last year and a Barry Goldwater Scholar and Department of Defense Fellowship recipient, is in the Ph.D. program in mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. Anna Terry (Ft. Smith, Southside) was selected as a Rhodes Scholar this year and will study the history of medicine next year at Oxford University.

"Are these students special? You bet," McCray said. "Does U of A prepare them to compete at the highest level? Absolutely."