The LSU Class of 2020 August graduates have accomplished some incredible things during their time on campus, and we are excited to see them head out into the world for their next great adventure. With the help of departments across campus along with the LSU Division of Strategic Communications, we wanted to feature some amazing graduates and their reflections on their time at LSU.
Our #LSUAlumni August 2020 graduate features are on:
Kaitlyn Fagan of Lake Charles, La., a College of Human Sciences and Education and School of Kinesiology has earned the Engaged Citizen distinction for Summer 2020. She earned nine service-learning credit hours and volunteered approximately 77 hours across her local and global communities. Some of Fagan's volunteer opportunities include a week-long mission trip to Honduras with the university's Global Brigades Medical/Dental Chapter and house-building with Habitat for Humanity as part of LSU's 2019 Greek Week.
"Kaitlyn Fagan's work in the ECP program embodies what many civically active individuals strive to cultivate in their lives: curiosity sparked by human connection, putting hard work in to learn more when it is clear one does not know enough about a social issue to act on it, and a deep drive to engage with people around her to make life better, regardless of circumstance," said CCELL Director Dr. Sarah Becker. "We are very proud of how she labored to fulfill her degree and ECP requirements with ingenuity amid a pandemic and look forward to seeing where she goes from here."
Visit www.lsu.edu/engagedcitizens for more information about the program.
Keagan Finely, a former member of the LSU Swimming & Diving Team, transferred to LSU in 2018 in honor of his brother and graduated in August 2020. His brother, Kayne Finley, was an LSU student who shortly before being accepted to the University found out he was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and doctors said his tumor was inoperable. He still chose to attend LSU, his dream school, and spent the last few months of his life living his dream. After his passing, his brother decided to honor his lifelong goal, and transferred to LSU to complete his college degree beneath the stately oaks and broad magnolias. The family established Cannonballs for Kayne, a nonprofit organization to raise awareness about and funding for researching DIPG, which Keagan took part in. Keagan is working in commercial real estate.
To watch more about Keagan's decision to transfer to LSU, click here.
Degrees: PhD medical physics
University of Memphis, BS Physics and Mathematical Sciences 2014
Hometown: Bartlett, Tennessee
Career Plans: Imaging physics residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN
PhD Dissertation: Applications of Advanced Structural and Functional MRI Methods
During her time at LSU, Krystal continued to amaze the scientific community with her knowledge shown through participation in multiple innovative studies with her Faculty Mentor Owen Camichael, Pennington Biomedical Research Center. In 2017, her focus was on combating obesity and improving cancer treatment. She aimed to develop a new technique that could provide the soft tissue contrast that obesity scientists need to better understand brown fat, a concept that occurred to Kirby while taking a graduate course on mathematical physics at LSU. Read more about the study here. From this work, she was awarded an Economic Development Assistantship by the LSU Graduate School. In 2018, she played a key part in a study focused on bilateral transfer of learning. The study took a first step toward understanding how and why some older adults are better than others at learning new motor skills. Read more about the study here.