Arsalan was born in Portland and went to Aloha High School.  He came to OSU because of the high quality of education available here for a “fraction of the cost of other places.”  During freshman orientation, he was initially registered as a biology major. When Dr. Chris Pastorek walked into the College of Science orientation and announced “All chem majors come with me,” he felt a spontaneous desire to follow her and has never looked back.   His favorite instructor is Emile Firpo due to his incredible generosity.  His interest in organic chemistry was sparked during the CH 334/335/336 series and he considers doing research with organic chemistry professor Paul Blakemore his best experience at OSU.  His favorite course was CH 435 Spectroscopy with Chris Beaudry.  After graduation, he intended to go to grad school to obtain a PhD in Chemistry and hopes to be a university professor one day. OSU and the Chemistry Department are so lucky to have talented students like Arsalan.