Dr. Aysegul Gunduz, associate professor, has been selected for induction into the 2020 class of the UF Graduate School Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society.

The Bouchet Society, named for the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in the United States (in physics at Yale in 1876), promotes diversity in higher education by recognizing noteworthy achievement and advocacy for students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the academia.

Membership in the society is by nomination only, approved by its national steering committee. Nominees are chosen by how best they advance Dr. Bouchet’s legacy by embodying the “five thrusts” of the society: scholarship, character, leadership, service, and advocacy.

Gunduz and her team in the Brain Mapping Laboratory aim to translate neural biomarkers of disease into clinical diagnostic and the therapeutic systems to improve the quality of life of those suffering from neurological disorders. Working with patients who undergo surgical treatment allows her team to capture the electrical patterns of the human brain and the data is converted into a visual brain map. Gunduz and her team analyze the data to help patients with epilepsy, Tourette’s syndrome, Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor.