The Staff Senate gives awards to recent graduates and staff members or teachers, at the annual Staff Awards Ceremony, held this year on April 19th 2024. This year, Cosmographer Ahmed Al-Taweel received one such award at the 2024 Ceremony—the Academic Excellence Award.

Ahmed has been part of COSMOS and UA Little Rock’s staff since January 2023, starting out as a graduate assistant at COSMOS and now working as a postdoctoral researcher after having received his PhD in May 2023. During his time as a UALR employee and Cosmographer, Ahmed has researched simulating collective mobs, narrative analysis, and churn analysis. In particular, Ahmed’s dissertation work was on the Finite Element Method, a method for solving partial differential equations.

This award is given to select recent graduates who have also worked as UA Little Rock employees. We spoke briefly with him about what this award means to him.

Ahmed said, “I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve received the Staff Senate Award, a recognition that genuinely means a lot to me. This honor reflects the dedication and effort I’ve poured into my work, and I’m grateful for the acknowledgment. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported me along the way, especially the COSMOS Research Center. This award inspires me to continue striving for excellence and contributing positively to our organization.”

COSMOS Director Dr. Agarwal said, “Ahmed’s journey at UALR and COSMOS has been nothing short of spectacular! I congratulate him for this very well-deserved recognition and wish him even greater success and achievements in future endeavors.”