Biography
I first became interested in computer science my freshman year of high school. As a senior at I. C. Norcom high school, I was accepted into the Office of the Naval Research Scholarship program at Elizabeth City State University that is affiliated with NASA and NOAA, which gave me the opportunity to become a student researcher. Not being exposed to a lot of courses in computer science and applications in operating systems prior to acceptance into the program, gives a learning experience as well as a research experience.
In the program various topics are covered in mathematics, science, and technology, which give opportunity for participation in research teams such as GLOBE, UNIX, Multimedia, Networking, Physics, and Satellite Imagery. As a computer science major who has a concentration in GIS/Remote Sensing, the opportunity has been given to work in the Satellite Imagery team last semester. Research was conducted and a paper entitled "Processing HRPT and SeaWifs Data from Polar-orbiting Satellites (NOAA) and Orrbview-2 Satellites"were presented. After that nurturing and educational experience, there was an eagerness to learn more in the remote sensing field. This past summer was enjoyable and provided a different experience. The ability was given to complete a seven-week summer internship at Norfolk State University with the RESS (Researching Earth System Science) program. I was able to be on the Digital Earth research team where we presented our research entitled “Disaster Agency Readiness: Predicting and Preparing for El Nino, La Nina and Southern Oscillation (ENSO)".
This past summer of
2004 I completed an internship with the project entitled "The
Relationship Between Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Height on the Strandings
of Harbor Porpoise Along the NC Coast". This project was conducted
in the NOAA Laboratory which is located in Beaufort, NC. I enjoyed working
with the satellite imagery involved on figuring out why there were stranding
of Harbor Porpoise along the NC coast and how they came about.
From the combined experiences,
the idea of having many different projects in which to conduct research
analysis were enjoyable. It invites the excitement of learning new things
with each project. From the ONR program a strong background was gained
in computer operating systems and researching. While participating in
summer internships every summer that is available hands-on experience
will be gained in the field of computer science. These skills will be
an important tool in pursuing a goal of becoming an effective research
scientist in the field of computer science.
