“I understand that I am not going to be here as long as I would like to be. But if I can make a difference in just one person’s life, I’ve done what I need to do. That’s all that matters to me.”

Thanks to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Arnoldo Vasquez Hernandez can walk again after surviving a deadly tornado on Jan. 25.

Jessica Jasien, Ph.D., a summer graduate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, is setting her sights high after graduation. She has accepted a position as a senior vision scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Cardiovascular and Vision Laboratory at Johnson Space Center.