What makes you a Difference Maker?
Making a real difference requires a positive mindset in the face of challenges. It’s important to stay focused on the potential for success instead of the possibility of failure. In a field like engineering, especially, it’s easy to forget that mistakes are just tools for improvement. I strive to keep this positivity in every aspect of my life because I know that it encourages and motivates people around me. On my own, I could never make the kind of impact in my community that I want. But as a team, there’s no limit to the things we can accomplish. Knowing all of these things and applying them to my leadership roles is what makes me a Difference Maker.
Highlight your campus achievements:
Some of my achievements on campus include being a Chancellor Scholar, maintaining Dean's List recognition, being an active member of the Society of Women engineers and working as an Mpressions member. My accomplishments in my education have carried over to accomplishments in my early career. I’ve had the privilege to conduct research with Ford Motor Company as a Blue Oval Scholar from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. My research at Ford was an experience that very few students get, and I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had. As part of a team in the Research and Innovation Center, I’ve been able to design and implement my own experiments. Some of the work I’ve done has been published internally to Ford and selected to be presented at the SAE conference in April 2017.
Highlight your leadership experiences both on and off campus:
I believe the most important quality in a leader is the ability to develop and encourage others. I’ve had some unique opportunities throughout my academic career to hone my leadership skills and impact the people around me. During my first semester on campus, I became a part of the executive board for the Society of Women Engineers and I’ve remained involved with the organization ever since. I’m currently serving as the section president and get to work with an amazing team of females who look for new ways to connect women in engineering and computer science with the resources to help them succeed. During my second year I worked as a student mentor with STEMstart, a summer program designed to motivate and educate incoming students who would be studying engineering. For two years, I was able to see the growth and success of this startup program and was also able to work with the future leaders of UM-Dearborn. Presently, I’m working as a near pear with Jefferson Barnes Learning Lab in Westland, MI. Each week I get to spend time with K-12 students and mentor them throughout their early education. As a team, we encourage creativity and are working to foster an environment of problem solving. I’m so excited to see where my current and future leadership roles will take me.
What is your dream career and/or long term life goal?
When I first picked engineering as my career path, I knew I wanted to be an innovator and constantly be challenged to find new solutions to complex problems. I plan to obtain this by pursuing a Ph.D. in engineering and continuing research in a field that I truly love. It’s also been a dream of mine to create a scholarship and mentorship program for low income students who want to go into STEM fields. My hope is to completely sponsor students who lack a professional role model at home and provide them with a successful mentor from their community who will partner with them throughout their studies.
All of the mentors in my life have constantly encouraged me to keep dreaming bigger, and each time I achieve one of my goals that's exactly what I plan to do.
What was your most defining moment at UM-Dearborn?
When I first selected engineering as my major, I had zero experience or knowledge about the field. I remember feeling so out of place my Engineering 100 class, and everyone there knew I didn't belong. But in the first weeks of class, I heard my professor talk about "the greats", the previous students who had moved on to accomplish big things. I listened to stories of students who became a part of NASA and Google, and of females being the first in their field. It was after hearing these stories of success that I visited my professor during his office hours and told him I was ready to be one of the greats. It was the first time I asked for help. I knew what I wanted, but I didn't know how to get there on my own. Since then I’ve learned the importance of humility and that asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of determination. I’ve become a resilient student, not due to my own success, but because of the foundation of supporters I’ve had in my family and at UM-Dearborn.