A group of Florida State University students, joined by Associate Dean Ebe Randeree, traveled to Atlanta in September for the 12th Annual STARS Computing Conference. Students presented six research posters and facilitated a panel discussion to computer science and technology students from 51 colleges across the country. Funded by the National Science Foundation for the past 12 years, STARS Alliance aims to broaden participation of women and minorities in computing/IT through best practices and community building.
The students that traveled represented multiple majors:
- Miciaha Ivey – Information Technology
- Poster: “Predicting Florida High-School Dropout Rates with Machine Learning Techniques”
- Melissa Davis –Industrial Engineering
- Poster: “Breadboarding 101: An iterative process of Discovery”
- Kylee McPhail – Criminology
- Poster: “Five Years with Girl Scouts”
- Abigail Hall –Industrial Engineering
- Poster: “Building Leaders”
- Andrew Whitely – Information Technology
- Poster: “Teaching coding to non-technical people”
- Bryanna Solorzano – Information Communication Technology
- Poster: “Recruit, Retain, Employ”
Melissa Davis was recognized with the 2nd place award in the Outreach Category. Even though this was her fourth STARS conference, it was her first time representing Florida State University. Melissa recently joined the PhD program at FAMU/FSU College of Engineering. According to Melissa, “becoming a member of STARS with the FSU group will launch my outreach efforts to a new level; I am ecstatic to take the insights from my recognized poster and further cultivate my outreach skills in the Tallahassee area.”
Bryanna Solorzano was recognized with a 1st place award. She said, “Attending the STARS Celebration was an incredible experience; being able to showcase what the FSU STARS team does and getting recognized for our work is something I won’t forget.”
Associate Dean Randeree commented, “our FSU students continue to demonstrate project management, leadership and communication skills in addition to their technical abilities as they showcase their work to other STEM programs across the country.”
Besides attending the conference, the students had the opportunity to meet with CCI alumni in Atlanta to talk about internships and employment including five STARS alumni: Hannah Brock, Jennifer Colman, Kelby Mahoney, Megan McGilvray, and Courtney Lisenbee.
The FSU STARS chapter participates and leads projects and programs that start at elementary school and progress through graduate school and on to careers in information technology and computing. The group completed 237 outreach activities last year, devoting 553 hours of actual event time and reaching 10,330 students. The College’s dean, Dr. Larry Dennis, is a founding member of STARS Alliance.