2024-2025 Executive Fellows

Gayathry Prabhakaran

Gayathry Prabhakaran is third-year Honors student from Gainesville, Florida. She is a Psychology major concentrating in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience. Within the field, she is interested in the study of holistic well-being and personal philosophy. She currently works as a research assistant in the Life Story Lab which conducts research on the prevalence of dignity therapy for patients suffering from terminal illnesses. Outside of the classroom, she is coaches gymnastics at Balance 180 Gymnastics and teaches yoga. Gaya enjoys meditation, yoga and spending time outside doing anything active.

As an Honors Executive Fellow, Gaya is working with Dr. Kristy Spear to develop and lead the Honors Mindfulness Learning Community. Gaya has been instrumental in creating an intentional framework that supports Honors freshmen in their transition to college through mindfulness practices and self-reflection. In this role, she will also be conducting research on mindfulness and high-achieving students. 

Tommy Duque

Tommy Duque is a third-year Honors student from Miami, Florida. He is majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering and getting certificates in Engineering Project Management and Engineering Innovation. Tommy is an Innovation Mentor in the UF IGNITE program, and serves as a Teaching Assistant for Engineering Entrepreneurship courses. Outside of the classroom, he is a TRiP Leader for the Center for Outdoor Recreation and Education (CORE). In his free time, Tommy likes to run, bike, and understand how things work.

As an Honors Executive Fellow, Tommy is working with Dr. Kristy Spear to explore nature-based learning in and outside of the classroom. This includes building outdoor recreation skills, facilitating discussions around the philosophy of our relationship with nature, supporting Honors TRiPs, and opening the floor to the outdoors as an intentional classroom setting.