Vidyani Suryadevara PhD, MS

As president of the Graduate Student Council (GSC), she warmly welcomes all the new and returning graduate students at UIC. Vidyani Suryadevara is ready for her last year at UIC, as she plans to finish her Ph.D. in the bioengineering department by the end of the academic year, then continue her career in academia.

Having joined UIC in 2013 to pursue a master’s, Vidyani Suryadevara now has an extended family at UIC and has made Chicago her home. Vidyani Suryadevara currently doing her research in medicine and engineering. Being an international student, she found UIC very welcoming and was awestruck by its diversity. While teaching undergraduate students, Vidyani Suryadevara saw the tremendous value that this diversity offers students, and how it fosters learning inside and outside the classroom.

Apart from her research and teaching, she has spent the last four years at UIC serving in various leadership capacities on campus and eagerly looks forward to her second term as the GSC president, serving as the liaison between graduate students and university administration. GSC has been a strong voice, advocating on behalf of the graduate students on the student fee advisory committee, at the engineering tuition differential meeting, and during the Higher Learning Commission accreditation process, among other times.

Vidyani Suryadevara's agenda this year is to ensure that all students get the right kind of coursework in their desired specialization, despite the existing challenges of space and the number of faculty in certain departments. In addition, she strongly believes that mentorship is a critical attribute for student success and plans to improve and facilitate not only student-faculty interactions and mentorship but also student-student mentorship. Vidyani Suryadevara believes that every person has something to learn and teach others, and these connections will go a long way in their personal and career paths. GSC will host various academic and social events throughout this academic year to foster these kinds of interactions.