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A Master of Laws (LL.M) student, a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) candidate, and five Juris Doctor (J.D.) students from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law have been named to the IUPUI Elite 50 list of honorees for 2019. They are Jamal Abdulrasheed, Jima Fahnbulleh, Ericka Flores, Heather Grimstad, Elizabeth Hyde, Fengquan Li, LL.M. '16, and Malissa Magiera.

Jamal Abdulrasheed is a 2019 J.D. candidate. He is a Barnes & Thornburg LLP Diversity Scholar, serves on the board of the Indianapolis Freedom School Partnership and is the Deputy Campaign Manager for a local City-County Council candidate. Abdulrasheed is also the Vice President (Day) for the Student Bar Association and a member of the Black Law Students Association.

Jima Fahnbulleh is a 3rd year J.D./M.P.H. 2020 candidate who currently serves as the Vice President of the Black Law Students Association. She is an IU Health Law Scholar and recently had the opportunity to intern at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where she researched how laws impact public health issues. Fahnbulleh is also active in the Re-Entry and Community Help, or REACH, program in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Erika Flores is a 2019 J.D. candidate at IU McKinney and the current president of the Hispanic Law Society. She has been an active student, promoting and advocating for diversity within the legal community. She has mentored 1Ls, along with international and undergraduate students. She organized McKinney’s first Hispanic Moot Court team to compete in New York City on a national level, and received the Robert Wagner Trial Advocacy-Diversity Scholarship.

Heather Grimstad is an LL.M. candidate for May 2019. She is earning her LL.M. in Intellectual Property while working full time for IU McKinney as the Associate Director of Graduate & International Programs. She works closely with the Chinese Law Summer Program, visiting scholars, and the Master of Jurisprudence Program. She has a passion for helping international scholars and students feel welcomed at IU McKinney and to Indianapolis. Grimstad is currently working with Professor Lea Shaver on a project related to getting children’s books published in disadvantaged languages around the world.

Elizabeth Hyde is a 2019 J.D candidate. She has served as a Note Development Editor for the Indiana Law Review and as an Associate Justice of Competition Management for the Staton Intramural Moot Court Competition. As a 2L, she and her partner won the Staton Intramural Moot Court Competition, and she was awarded Best Oralist. A former high school teacher, Hyde has focused on civil rights law, completing externships at the Indiana ACLU and at Indiana Legal Services. She is seeking a Civil and Human Rights Law Graduate Certificate. 

Fengquan Li, LL.M. '16, is an S.J.D. student at IU McKinney. Li was chosen to be the student commencement speaker by her fellow Master of Laws classmates in 2016. She worked as an intern for Indiana Legal Service and was a Gold Level Award Recipient for pro bono legal services in 2016. The following year, Li delivered a lecture titled "How China's Economic Reform Impacts Its Tax System" during an S.J.D. Colloquium at the law school, worked as an intern at CMG Worldwide in 2017, and served as panelist during an "IP Externs and Law Clerks Panel" for the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Innovation event. Li passed the New York bar exam in 2018. She serves as an IUPUI Admissions Office Student Ambassador, and in 2019 enrolled in the Multicultural Leadership Empowerment Program.

Malissa Magiera is a 2021 J.D. candidate at IU McKinney who also is pursuing a Master of Science in Biology. She has completed externships at Eli Lilly and Company, and at the Indiana University Innovation and Commercialization Office. She is active in the Intellectual Property Student Association, Sports and Entertainment Law Society, and Women’s Caucus.

The Elite 50 program honors graduate and professional students at IUPUI, and is modeled after the university’s Top 100 Outstanding Students honors program. The program’s purpose is to recognize and reward achievement outside the classroom among the graduate and professional student population. The Elite 50 represent the top one-half of 1 percent of the graduate and professional student body at IUPUI. Since awards for academic accomplishments already exist, the Elite 50 mainly focuses on achievements outside of the classroom. The Elite 50 Celebration Dinner will take place on April 10 at 6 p.m. in Campus Center CE 450.