UTEP Doctoral Student Awarded Generation Google Scholarship
Last Updated on November 24, 2020 at 12:00 AM
Originally published November 24, 2020
By Christina Rodriguez
UTEP Communications
A doctoral student at The University of Texas at El Paso is among the recipients of the 2020 Generation Google Scholarship, which awards $10,000 to exemplary computer science students from throughout the United States and Canada.
Anindita Nath, who is pursuing her doctoral degree in computer science, received the award based on the strength of her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, demonstrated leadership, and academic performance. The Generation Google Scholarship was established to help aspiring students pursuing computer science degrees excel in technology and become leaders in the field.
“I am honored and humbled to win such a prestigious and highly competitive scholarship,” Nath said. “I will continue to strive to make an impact on society with my research and inspire my fellow female researchers to make them feel they belong and can achieve their desired success in computing.”
Nath enrolled at UTEP in 2017 and quickly began work on an information retrieval project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She soon found herself attending program meetings throughout the country, as well as collaborating with research groups from reputed schools.
As a president and scholar of computing international honor society Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE), UTEP chapter, Nath has led various computing workshops and tutorials and was a UPE scholar in 2019. She serves as an officer of the Golden Key Honor Society and works as a volunteer at Austin High School through the Microsoft Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program that connects classroom teachers with tech-industry volunteers through remote and in-classroom learning to create sustainable computer science and technology education programs.
Nath credits her extensive research experience at UTEP, her commitment to increase technical awareness, community involvement, continuous support from her adviser and recommendations from her professors for helping her candidacy for the highly competitive Google scholarship.
"Anindita's well-deserved award is one of many recent recognitions of the great things happening in computer science at UTEP," said Nigel Ward, Ph.D., professor of computer science and Nath’s doctoral advisor.
Nath plans to use her award to fund her education and advance her research endeavors. In the future, she plans to continue pursuing her research at a national lab or a top tier research university such as UTEP.
“There’s nothing you can't do at UTEP,” Nath said. “With the support of my professors and my peers in the lab, I’ve been able to travel and talk about my research at the top venues and even successfully complete a summer internship at an Ivy League school, UPenn. Being a Generation Google Scholar is yet another significant example of how UTEP helps each student achieve their dreams.”
Since 2004, Google has awarded nearly 1,500 scholarships in the U.S. and Canada to help break down the barriers that prevent students, particularly those in underrepresented groups in tech, from pursuing a degree in computing, gaming and technology.
“The goal of the Generation Google Scholarship is not only to help support academic pursuits, but also empower the next generation of computer scientists to excel in the field of technology and to inspire others,” said Lysandra Donigian, head of talent development, North America, for Google.
