Two earn NIST research fellowships

Two University of North Georgia (UNG) students were named National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship selections. Both women are First-Generation college students. They will head to the NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland, at the end of spring semester.

Katia Gonzalez-Adame, a senior pursuing degrees in mathematics and chemistry, will work in the Materials Measurement Laboratory. Brittney Meza, a junior pursuing a degree in computer science, will work in the Information Technology Laboratory.

Gonzalez-Adame is a McNair scholar and recently returned from a Gilman-funded study abroad program in Wales. Dr. Alla Balueva, Dr. Steven Benzel and Dr. Patricia Todebush have supported her research.

"I'm super proud of Katia and her success. These are two hard majors. They take a lot of work and effort. She has such grit and resilience," Todebush said. "I'm just really proud of her and her accomplishments."

Gonzalez-Adame, a Gainesville, Georgia resident, has career aspirations of further education and continuing her research.

"I'm hoping to pursue a masters in data science or statistics and then hopefully pursue a doctoral degree," she said. "But what I really want to do is more research in both fields.The research I do now is mathematical but also includes chemistry. We’re looking at compounds to see how we can improve dental implants, for example, and so it's good because I get to use both my degrees."

While in Maryland, Gonzalez-Adame said she’ll be working on a research project that focuses on density functional theory (dft) calculations, a theory that focuses on looking at ground state energies and more.

Meza is a Presidential Ambassador, previously on the Gainesville Campus and now on the Dahlonega Campus. Mary Beth Houston, Presidential Ambassadors program coordinator in the Office of the President, and Dr. Jason Porter, assistant professor of computer science, recommended her.

Houston and Meza met two years ago during the interview process for the role of Presidential Ambassador, a student worker role out of the Office of the President that assists with high-level and presidential events and projects.

"I remember walking out of her interview and saying, 'We have to hire her, she's going to make a great candidate for the program and she's going to be awesome,'" Houston said. "I was not wrong. She is incredible and she's rocking everything she does. Multiple staff members talk about how awesome Brittney is."

Houston said writing Meza's recommendation was "one of the easiest recommendation letters I have written to date because Brittney works hard, she's poised, articulate and analytical. It was easy to go on and on about how perfect she would be for the opportunity."

Meza credits her time with UNG's Cyber Unit and Cyber Hawks for having helped her discover various fields of computer science and computer security.

"It was interesting to me. It reignited my passion. From there I just started getting more and more intertwined with it, and now I’m shadowing Haley Carter, UNG interim chief information officer (CIO) and Rob Cherveny, UNG chief information security officer (CISO)," she said. 

Meza said she considers herself to be a role model for younger women, especially her family members.

"I've taken advantage of the opportunities that are offered," she said.