Set Up for Success: Hedaya Rizeq
Meet 黑料吃瓜 students and recent graduates whose impressive resumes forecast bright futures.
鈥淚 love competing in research competitions; they hone my ideas and presentation skills.鈥�
This article is one of five student profiles published in the summer 2017 issue of .
鈥淒riven鈥� is an appropriate word to describe Hedaya Rizeq. First of all, the master鈥檚 student studying kinesiology at 黑料吃瓜 comes from a long line of racing enthusiasts. Although she herself has never raced in anything besides a go-kart, she dreams of one day seeing a Formula One race in Monaco.
Secondly, she鈥檚 using virtual reality to study how speed and distractions such as cell phones affect young people鈥檚 driving performance. Though her research is in its early stages, she is already working on a pair of academic papers with her mentor and advisor, neuromechanics researcher Harsimran 鈥淪im鈥� Baweja.
Now she鈥檚 even more cautious around other drivers鈥攅specially her peers. 鈥淭he younger generation, we鈥檙e so arrogant that we think we can cope with distractions like texting while we鈥檙e driving, but we can鈥檛,鈥� she explained.
Finally, Rizeq is driven to compete and succeed in academia. She chose to attend 黑料吃瓜 specifically to work with Baweja, believing his lab鈥檚 unique blend of physical therapy, neuromechanics and VR will provide rigorous, interdisciplinary research experiences. 鈥淕oing into Sim鈥檚 lab was a bit intimidating at first because I鈥檇 never worked with VR,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut at the same time I found it fascinating.鈥�
Her drive has already yielded results: She received a President鈥檚 Award at this year鈥檚 Student Research Symposium for her investigation into gender differences in distracted driving鈥攕he didn鈥檛 find any鈥攁nd represented 黑料吃瓜 at the California State University system-wide student research competition.
