The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) has selected BSIS student Dhanvi Puttur and BSIS+DS student Lara Terpetschnig as 2025 Community-Academic Scholars. Representing nineteen majors and nine minors in eight colleges and schools at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and two additional universities, the eighteen scholars in this cohort encompass diverse fields of study, from community health to graphic design to statistics.
Selected from a competitive pool of applicants, these scholars possess the skills needed to work on their selected projects, a personal connection to and passion for the issues their projects address, and a demonstrated ability to positively impact campus and the community. Many students work in labs across campus, volunteer in the community, and serve in leadership roles in student organizations.
Puttur is a junior James Scholar double majoring in information sciences and graphic design. At Illinois, she is an Illio School Yearbook designer and part of MedLaunch UIUC, a student-led organization focused on making the Champaign-Urbana community more accessible. Passionate about bringing technology and design together to create accessible and responsive solutions, Puttur is exploring different areas within design. She will work with Graphic Design Assistant Professor Catalina Alzate and Urbana Acupuncture to document how engagement within a shared community clinic space contributes to healing experiences among patients. Through participatory sessions supported by storytelling and visual exercises, patients will collaboratively depict their journeys, resulting in graphic materials to be displayed in the clinic and other relevant venues and showcasing the power of community and holistic medicine. Learn more about the project.
Also a junior James Scholar, Terpetschnig is minoring in statistics and hopes to become a nonprofit or government data analyst. At Illinois, she works with Associate Professor Anita Chan in the Community Data Clinic, researching the impact of the Digital Navigators program on individuals and community organizations. She is the president of Project4Less, an RSO focused on food insecurity in the local community, and an assistant at the Urbana Free Library. Terpetschnig will work with Community-Academic Scholar Rena Amarteifio, Health and Kinesiology Assistant Professor Minakshi (Mina) Raj, and Sola Gratia Farm to conduct a needs assessment through surveys and interviews with older adults in Champaign County and provide Healthy Champaign County (HCC) with these perspectives to better understand their food-related challenges, needs, and preferences. Learn more about the project.