Hesham Alghodhaifi has been making big things happen on UM-Dearborn’s campus for a while now — and you’ll find him doing it on not one, but two of today’s most exciting research frontiers.

Recently, as a master’s student, Alghodhaifi worked in the radiation oncology department at the University of Michigan Medical School, researching radiation therapy’s impacts on the liver. And now as a Ph.D. student, he’s switched gears to work at the forefront of the autonomous vehicle revolution, where his passion is vehicle safety.

The common thread, of course, is Alghodhaifi’s strong belief that research and technology can improve people’s lives. “My dream career is to open a big research lab and apply artificial intelligence to solve all kinds of complicated tasks,” he said. “That could be everything from early detection of cancers to vehicle safety — even helping people get access to food, education and healthcare.”

Alghodhaifi also is using his years of experience as a UM-Dearborn graduate student to help others on their own educational journeys. He recently helped start (and also serves as president of) the Graduate International Student Organization (GISO), which is dedicated to improving the academic and social experiences of international students at UM-Dearborn. That’s something Director of Graduate Studies Trista Wdziekonski said has been a goal for a long time. But it took Alghodhaifi’s enthusiasm, grit and attention to detail to make it happen.

He’s even taking that same ethos beyond UM-Dearborn. During his international journey, he’s remained intensely focused on events in his home country of Yemen, which is enduring a multi-year civil war. He’s now working to start a Yemeni Student Union in the United States, so others can have the kinds of experiences he said have allowed him to grow into the dynamic researcher and leader he is today.