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USF Computer Science and Engineering Ph.D. students Sarah Garcia and Jorge Adorno Nieves awarded GMiS Scholarships

October 21, 2019

Sarah Garcia and Jorge Adorno Nieves

USF Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Ph.D. students Sarah Garcia and Jorge Adorno Nieves were each awarded a 2019 Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) scholarship. Great Minds in STEM has three different categories of scholarships: corporate/federal agency-sponsored, special recognition and in memoriam and personal tribute. Garcia was awarded a corporate/federal agency-sponsored scholarship from Oracle Academy in the amount of $10,000. Adorno Nieves was also awarded a corporate/federal agency-sponsored scholarship through the Intel Scholars Program in the amount of $10,000.

This year, 102 students received scholarships out of the over 1,400 applications. These scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic excellence, community service and leadership. Scholarship recipients also receive travel support, including registration and hotel accommodations to attend the 2019 GMiS Conference. This year’s conference was held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida on September 26-29.

Garcia, advised by CSE Assistant Professor Marvin Andujar in the Neuro-Machine Interaction Lab, is working on projects in the areas of augmented reality, virtual reality and brain-computer interfaces. “I am very grateful to have been awarded this scholarship. This award has offered me financial support to continue to pursue my Doctorate in Computer Science,” Garcia said.

Adorno Nieves is advised by CSE Professor Miguel Labrador in the Location-Aware Information Systems Laboratory.  His dissertation research includes the improvement of machine learning systems for public transportation in collaboration with the USF Center for Urban and Transportation Research (CUTR).

According to the press release, “Great Minds in STEM™ is an education, national 501(c)3 nonprofit, whose vision is to be a national leader in keeping America technologically strong by promoting science, technology, engineering and math careers especially in underserved communities. Now, in its 30th year, it remains the only national entity, which has consistently recognized the esteemed technical achievements of STEM role models through a selective, peer- reviewed process.”

Since its creation, GMiS has awarded over $4.5M to over 1,500 STEM college students.