Jayakumar wins Ohio State Graduate Student Award for Community Service

According to the university, the award highlights Jayakumar and his strong commitment to making society a better place through the tools of empathy and science.

Since starting at Ohio State, Jayakumar has volunteered multiple times through various organizations locally, nationally and internationally. Locally, he has participated in Community Commitment, MLK Day of Service multiple times and various other Pay it Forward events. He has volunteered with FLOW (Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed), the Heinzerling Memorial Foundation, and the Open Shelter among many others during this time as well. In 2014, he lead a group of 11 students on a Buck-IServ trip to the lower ninth ward of New Orleans, where they helped build houses affected by Katrina. And last summer, he lead a group of students on a Service Learning trip to Panajachel, Guatemala and helped build a Grey Water Recycling system. 

Jayajumar is currently a Graduate Research Associate at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), pursuing his PhD.

The Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Community Service is presented by the Office of Student Life, the Office of Outreach and Engagement and the Office of Service-Learning to recognize Ohio State students who have rendered exceptional outreach and/or engagement within Ohio’s communities through their personal commitment to service. This award is given to a graduate student who has demonstrated distinguished individual community service efforts or efforts made as a member of a group or society, further establishing and strengthening Ohio State’s commitment to supporting a positive impact on society.