Twelve students across the University System of Maryland (USM) were recently named recipients of the 2026 USM Board of Regents Student Excellence Scholarships. The awards are the highest honor presented by the Board of Regents to recognize student achievement.
Scholarships are presented in four categories: Academics, Scholarship, and Research; Innovation and Creative Activity; Leadership and Advocacy; and Outreach and Engagement. Within each category, one winner is a freshman or sophomore, one is a junior or senior, and one is a graduate or professional student.
Included in this year's honorees was Global Public Health Scholar Zehra Seyda in the Academics, Scholarship, and Research category. Syeda is a sophomore pursuing a bachelor of science in bioengineering and is a member of the inaugural class of the University of Maryland B.S.–M.D. Program.
She is maintaining a 4.0 GPA while serving as a researcher in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and a clinical research associate at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where she works across six trauma ICUs. She aims to become a physician-engineer, solving clinically relevant problems with tools that reach patients. Syeda also received the prestigious Martha and Ira Berlin Legacy Fund Scholarship from College Park Scholars in fall 2025.