Leslie Cook, a computer science graduate student at Midwestern State University, was among only 11 students worldwide to receive a prestigious computer science scholarship.
Il s’appelle Association of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on High Performance Computing Computational and Data Science Fellowship.
“I’m still a little shocked that I, out of all the people who applied from anywhere in the world, was singled out as one of the SIGHPC beneficiaries,” Cook said.
She was nominated by her research director, Associate Professor of Computer Science Eduardo Colmenares, and recommended by Assistant Professor of Physics Preet Sharma.
Colmenares said Cook’s program, his successes at MSU Texas, including his strong grades and his participation in Colmenares’ Computer Science and Deep Learning Research Group and other research groups, helped win the competitive scholarship.
Suite:An MSU Texas respiratory care professor makes the subject amusing
“In 2022, only 11 students from a pool of applicants from around the world received the scholarship, some from larger Tier 1 institutions,” he said.
Scholarship includes $15,000 cash stipend renewable for up to two additional years, certificate commemorating achievement, and travel assistance to Supercomputing 2022 conference in November in Dallas for recognition at conference awards ceremony .
The conference is one of the most important HPC conferences in the world, Colmenares said.
Cook said she also couldn’t fathom what the scholarship meant for her education, her future career, and for herself personally.
“As a single mother, the financial support of the fraternity is immeasurable. So I have a little more leeway and the ability to support my family with a little less student debt and less stress as I finish school,” she said.
Cook is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science – after earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry – and winning the scholarship has given her confidence in her decision to switch courses.
“Moving to another field of study is not necessarily the easiest path one could take, but I certainly think it was the right choice, and this scholarship has dispelled any doubts I might have had before,” she said .
Cook hopes the scholarship opens the door to more career opportunities.
“I’m hoping to get an internship at one of the national laboratories that work with the Department of Energy and/or the Department of Defense this summer,” he said.
Colmenares said the news is not only important to Cook, but also to the university.
“This accomplishment not only puts our department and university on the map, but also puts its name alongside some top-tier institutions,” he said.
Suite:More than 600 MSU students are graduating Saturday
Others who have received the scholarship include students at leading institutions including Brown University; University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus; University of Toronto; Tufts University; Northwestern University; University of California, Berkeley; Boston University; and universities in Australia and Germany.
As a nontraditional student who returned to college 12 years after graduating from high school and a single mother, Cook hopes her accomplishments will inspire other women, mothers, and young people to never stop learning, growing, and pursuing their goals.
“I hope I can inspire other women and mothers to pursue their dreams and persevere; take up space and diversify STEM fields that are heavily dominated by men so that we can be the change we want to see in the world,” she said.
STEM refers to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Earlier this year, Cook was chosen for an internship at the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland, in biomedical research.
Cook completed an internship in the Biomedical Informatics Section of the National Institute on Drug Abuse intramural research program to help analyze more than 20 years of medical patient data.
