Ohio Northern University

A resilient spirit carried Joy Khoury from war-torn Syria to the commencement stage at Ohio Northern University, where he was awarded his Doctor of Pharmacy this May.

“Coming from a fragile country and seeing war firsthand made me attach to this dream even more,” he says, “just grasping it with both hands and never letting go.”

Joy was midway through pharmacy school in his home country when a civil war broke out, prompting his family to immigrate to the U.S. While waiting in Syria for his visa approval, Joy perfected his English and volunteered with children displaced from the war.

A year after moving to California, Joy revived his dream. He completed prerequisite courses at a community college before earning acceptance into the four-year PharmD program in the Raabe College of Pharmacy.

“I fell in love with the campus and I felt like I fit here better than anywhere else,” he said.

Although he initially struggled with “imposter syndrome,” Joy utilized the counseling center and sought guidance from his professors. He refined his study habits, adapted to the rigors of the program, and proved he could excel.

Outside the classroom, Joy forged close connections with faculty and peers, played club volleyball, and served as a teaching assistant. During periods when the situation in Syria deteriorated and he worried about friends and family still living there, his professors provided the empathy and flexibility he needed to stay focused.

“The fact that they are willing to work with whatever circumstances a student is going through,” he says, “tells you a lot about who they are—not just as faculty members, but as human beings.”

After graduation, Joy plans to marry his partner and start a family. He is also eager to begin his PGY-1 residency at Mercy Health St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima.

“I started pharmacy school in my home country in 2015, so I’ve been a student for quite a while,” he says. “Now, I can begin giving back. I truly believe that working in healthcare is one of the most humanitarian roles you can play in your life and lifetime.”

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Madison Arno aspires to design medical devices that improve the quality of life for people with mobility issues. At Ohio Northern University, the honors student from Cincinnati has gotten a running start.

Madison not only graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, but with extensive research experience in the biomedical field. In the fall, she’ll begin a master’s degree program in medical product engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

“I wanted a career in the medical field helping people, but I’m a little bit squeamish,” she laughed.

Watching her 93-year-old grandmother struggle to transition from her wheelchair to her bed, made Madison realize that engineers could solve those everyday hurdles.

“I want to take products that already exist in the medical field and make them better,” she says.

Madison’s parents and a brother are ONU alumni, but she chose ONU not because of the family connection, but because “the engineering program is so good, and I wanted a smaller college for easier access to my professors and mentors.”

That access led to amazing opportunities. Last summer, she was a research intern at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. There, she assisted with developing a sensor-based device that alerts people with spinal cord injuries about foot placement on their powered wheelchairs. The device aims to prevent injuries by ensuring a user’s feet remain securely positioned, even on uneven terrain.

On campus, she’s assisted Dr. Louis DiBerardino, associate professor of mechanical engineering, with an innovative marker less motion system to capture human movement data. For her honors capstone, she developed a partial weight-bearing assistive device for a shoe to measure weight distribution and assist lower-limb recovery.

Looking ahead, Madison hopes to work in research and development within the private sector.

“The best feeling would be to see a device I helped design help people, whether in a hospital or out in public,” she says. “That would be so great.”

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Just in time for summer cruising, 15 Ada Elementary third and fourth graders received brand-new bicycles, thanks to a collaborative after-school STEM program sponsored by Ohio Northern University.

In addition to new wheels, helmets, and accessories, the students also gained a foundational understanding of engineering principles, bike maintenance, and biking safety.

“Essentially, we want them thinking like an engineer,” said Dr. Todd France, associate professor of engineering education. “We connected the mechanics of the bike to core principles in science, technology, and math.”

The initiative was part of ONU’s Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), a program that allows ONU engineering students to earn credit for high-impact community work. Funded in part by the Ohio Space Grant Consortium, the bike program was developed by Dr. France and four ONU engineering students.

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