Zavarce shines as leader, researcher

When Albany Zavarce first moved to the U.S. for her ninth-grade year, she couldn't speak English. Later, as she approached high school graduation, everyone suggested she should go straight into the workforce and didn't need a college education.

Fast-forward five years, and Zavarce served from May 3-6 as a student assistant at the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) GEOINT Symposium in Aurora, Colorado. Just over a week later, she will walk across the commencement stage at the University of North Georgia (UNG) after earning a bachelor's degree in environmental spatial analysis and becoming a well-recognized leader and researcher on campus.

She hopes other women will see her accomplishments and dream big.

"I want to make a change. I want to inspire others," Zavarce said. "I want to be a pioneer."

Dr. Steve Fleming, a retired Army colonel, said other students might have passed on the USGIF GEOINT Symposium at this busy time of the semester and right ahead of their own graduation. Zavarce wasn't about to give up the opportunity to make more connections in her field and share her work with others. She earned Honorable Mention recognition for her poster, "Overflowing barrels, failing foundations: The collapse of Venezuela's oil state," and accepted an invitation to submit her work for a USGIF publication that will be released later this summer. Fleming said he is constantly impressed by Zavarce's creative problem-solving skills.

"She has positive energy and gets things done without having to be asked," Fleming said. "She understands what she needs to do to be successful, and nothing is going to get her off that path."

Zavarce is a member of UNG's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholars (STEMS) Program funded by the National Science Foundation. STEMS provides scholarship funds up to $10,000 per student per academic year for students in STEM fields, excluding health care. Zavarce is also a member of the UNG Honors Program.

She was selected in spring 2025 as UNG's first recipient of the StemNetX Fellowship, a program she took part in from May through December of that year. STEMNetX is a STEM initiative supported by CCL-US.ORG, a nonprofit organization with a vision of empowering future STEM leaders through innovative experiential learning. The opportunity included a one-week paid bootcamp at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, in May 2025 with training in data analysis, coding and software tools.

For the fellowship, Zavarce conducted research on the deadly summer 2025 flooding in Texas. She has since presented the research at the Georgia Resilience Conference, a STEMS Program research conference at UNG, and the Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers (SEDAAG) annual meeting in Lexington, Kentucky, in fall 2025. She secured a Center for Undergraduate and Creative Activities travel grant for the SEDAAG meeting. Zavarce insists that she thrives most under pressure, noting that her first 4.0 GPA of college came during that same semester.

Zavarce has served as president of Students for Environmental Awareness and was a member of the Geospatial Alliance student club. She was also a tour guide for Undergraduate Admissions and served as a peer mentor for other STEM students.

Dr. Amber Ignatius, associate professor of geography and geospatial science, has enjoyed watching Zavarce's growth while at UNG.

"I have seen her skillset evolve tremendously. She has gained momentum each and every year," Ignatius said. "It's inspiring to other students."

Ignatius said Zavarce makes sure to take advantage of her opportunities, both for herself and so she can share those experiences with others.

"Albany is ambitious. In addition to her research abilities, she excels in soft skills: project leadership, communicating and presenting. She is brave and takes on challenges even when she's nervous," Ignatius said. "Today, more than ever, soft skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking are crucial for our students to succeed at UNG and beyond."