My name is Kevin Benton Jr. I am originally from Wilson County, North Carolina. I am a junior at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. I am majoring in computer science with a concentration in science.

Throughout my time in school I always had an interest in computer science. My curiosity about the computer field came from a class that I took in my junior year of high school.  At ECSU I was accepted in the Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research (CERSER) program. This program gives me in-depth training in various software programs and programming languages during the fall semester such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, C++, and Python. In the spring semester these skills are applied to a research project.

The first research in the spring of 2016 was titled "Design and Installation of a Video Conference Solution at the Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research at Elizabeth City State University". This research project was presented at the ADMI conference 2016 in Winston-Salem, NC. There were various speakers at the conference including ones from Intel and Yahoo. This conference gave me a chance to enhance my presentation skills.

During the summer of 2016 was my second research project. It was conducted during the ECSU Research Experience for Undergraduates. The title of this research is "A Continuing Study of the Water Quality in the Pasquotank Watershed in Northeastern North Carolina".

CERSER has also given me the chance to attend meetings at other universities. My fellow members and I attended a joint meeting with the North Carolina State University Women in Engineering program as a part of the ECSU IEEE-Geographical Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) program. When CERSER first arrived at NC State, we went to their geographical lab and learned how they are planning to apply their studies to the real world. Then after that, we went to a meeting where there was a speaker talking about GRSS. I learned many things from the speaker, for example how researchers collect data and compare it to previous data. 

My plan for success includes keeping a high grade point average and seeking out research opportunities to obtain hands on use of my education. My goal is to graduate in the summer of 2018 and receive my Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Science. Once I obtain my degree, I plan on pursuing my Master’s Degree in Computer Science with a future career goal of becoming a software engineer.