I first heard about the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) when I was at Watkins Mill High School, so I was aware of USG as an option for earning a bachelor’s degree before I started making plans for college. My college journey began at Montgomery College, where I worked toward my associates degree in General Studies with a STEM concentration, before I transferred into the Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering program (formerly Embedded Systems and Internet of Things) offered by the University of Maryland, College Park’s prestigious Clark School of Engineering, on the USG campus.
I chose the program because the field was really interesting to me and gave me the opportunity to be a pioneer in a new and emerging field, with training in hardware, software, networks, cybersecurity and machine learning. The USG campus was much closer to home, so convenience was a major factor in my decision to apply for the program.
On campus, I am both a Maryland Promise Scholar, as well as an Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) Pathways Scholar. The Maryland Promise Scholarship Program provides supportive educational and financial opportunities to undergraduate students from the state of Maryland and Washington, D.C. exhibiting strong academic and leadership potential. ACES is a collaborative program that seeks to create a seamless pathway from high school to college completion.
There have been a multitude of projects that I have enjoyed working on while in my program, one of which was using sensors to send data to the Microsoft Azure Cloud and processing the data remotely. But I’ve also greatly benefited from the internship experiences I’ve had, specifically while working as a Product Manager Intern at Motorola Solutions, where I’ve had the opportunity to work with different product managers and help drive their product strategy.
My anticipated graduation date is Spring 2022. After I graduate, I would like to pursue a career in product management or work as a technology solutions architect. After I gain some professional experience in my field, I would then like to consider advancing my education with an MBA.