2020 Dallas SWE High School Scholarship Recipients
Dallas SWE is excited to award scholarships to each of these nine extraordinary high school seniors from the Dallas area – Mia Hauffe, Rachel Elizabeth Johnson, Madeleine Jones, Kate Liang, Leah Manuel, Ndidiamaka Nwosu, Abigail Ramirez, Carol Anne Starks, and Lucy Young. Applicants were evaluated based on need, academics, school and community involvement and plans to become engineers. Thanks to the Dallas SWE Scholarship Committee for taking the time to review a wonderful group of applicants! Congratulations to this year’s recipients: we wish you all the best!
Mia Hauffe – Red Oak High School
Mia Hauffe will attend University of Texas at Austin where she will major in Architectural Engineering. Mia has served as president, ambassador, and lead programmer for FIRST Robotics Team 4641, and at FIRST Competitions, the team has received awards for Gracious Professionalism, Creativity, Engineering Inspiration, and Engineering Innovation. She is the percussion captain and front ensemble section leader in the Mighty Hawk Marching Band and Wind Ensemble. Mia is graduating with the Project Lead the Way Engineering endorsement and is a member of the National Honor Society. She is an accomplished pianist, has received numerous awards, and enjoys volunteering in the community. At UT, Mia intends to actively participate in the Women in Engineering Program and continue her passion for music in campus ensembles.
Rachel Elizabeth Johnson – Richardson High School
Rachel Johnson will attend The University of Notre Dame with plans to double major in physics and computer science. As co-captain of the math and science team and as an active member of the computer science team, she has won awards for math, science, and computer science including Honorable Mention for the MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge, recognition for the Girls Go Cyber Start CTF, and recognition as a qualifier for the USA Physics Olympiad. She has also conducted atomic nuclei research at The University of Notre Dame and Cepheid relative photometry research at Southern Methodist University. In addition to being a SWENext member, Rachel is a National Merit Finalist and a member of the National, Mu Alpha Theta, and Rho Kappa Honor Societies. She is excited to intern for Lockheed Martin this summer as a software engineer. Rachel has plans to continue studying physics and math and apply computer science skills in these contexts as she enters college.
Madeleine Jones – Richardson High School
Madeleine Jones will attend Duke University where she will major in Computer Science. On campus, she is a leader in the Computer Science Club and has participated in competitive programming and cybersecurity competitions. Because of her participation, she was selected to visit the state capitol to speak to legislators about computer science education. Madeleine is also a competitor in both Math and Science UIL competitions and is a member of the Speech and Debate Team. To support the reduction of stress relief, Madeleine founded and leads the Yoga Club on campus. Madeleine was selected as a NASA STEM Enhancement of Earth Science Intern where she worked in a team to process and analyze data from GRACE satellites using Python programming language and created a plan for a future gravity mission. Madeleine wants to major in computer science to connect programming to the physical world in a way that can improve society.
Kate Liang – Texas Academy of Math and Science
Kate Liang will attend Cornell University where she will major in Computer Science. She is the founder and executive director of Kodergirl, an organization that facilitates programming camps for girls across North Texas, and serves as the Director of Business for Driving Tomorrow, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that collects donations for under-resourced populations across the globe. At school, she is active in various clubs such as DECA, Student Council, and the Junior Engineering Technical Society, and plays the viola. Academically, Kate is a UIL Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, and on the University of North Texas President’s List. A recipient of the UNT Undergraduate Research Fellowship and TAMS Summer Research Scholarship, Kate also participates in research-where she uses machine learning to distinguish between various cognitive disorders-and is a Congressional App Challenge Winner, NCWIT Aspirations for Computing National Honorable Mention, and DECA International Top 10 Finalist.
Leah Manuel – Hebron High School
Leah Manuel will attend Georgia Institute of Technology where she will major in Aerospace Engineering at a university yet to be selected. Leah is a founding member and current President of Girls Who Code which promotes women in the STEM field by learning coding like HTML, Python, and C#. Academically, Leah is an AP Scholar of Distinction and a member of the National, Art, and Science Honor Societies. As an accomplished vocalist, Leah is a member of the Varsity Treble and Mixed Varsity Choirs. Leah was selected as a NASA STEM Enhancement of Earth Science Intern where she worked on the Mosquito Mappers team conducting environmental and health-related research on the relationship between precipitation, soil moisture and mosquito activity. Leah is excited to fulfill her dreams and to aid and inspire others as she joins the creative and innovative aerospace engineering workforce of the future.
Ndidiamaka Nwosu – Richardson High School
Ndidiamaka Nwosu will attend Rice University where she will major in Computer Science. As an active member of the computer science team, Ndidiamaka participates in cybersecurity competitions and project development for game and web applications. She received recognition for outstanding Performance in Girls Go Cyber Start cybersecurity competition. Academically, Ndidiamaka is a National Merit Commended Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction and a National Honorable Mention of the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing. Ndidiamaka is very active on campus as President of the Animation Club and a member of the Writer’s Guild, American Sign Language and the Math & Science clubs. Ndidiamaka is an accomplished cellist and a member of the school orchestra. Ndidiamaka is eager to explore the world of technology to create accessible technology and artificial intelligence that can give information and assistance to anyone who needs it.
Abigail Ramirez – Richardson High School
Abigail Ramirez will attend Colorado School of Mines where she will major in Mechanical Engineering. Abigail is a leader of the Robotics Team where she has led the team to become the VEX Robotics regional champion, placed 3rd in SkillsUSA mobile robotics competition and participated in BattleBots. In addition to being a Kode With Klossy Scholar, she is a member of the Computer Science team and co-founder of an after school coding program. Abigail is a member of the National and Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Societies. As a member of the Richardson Academic Decathlon Honors Team, Abigail received Silver medals at the state competition in both the speech and interview categories. Abigail’s passion is creating things and solving problems and her plan is to make these her lifelong passion through engineering.
Carol Anne Starks – Marcus High School
Carol Anne Starks will attend UT Austin where she will major in Environmental Engineering. Carol Anne participates in Math UIL and DECA competitions, where she was a Top 20 Finalist and received recognition as a Top 10 Oral Presentation at the international level last year. Carol Anne was selected to participate in the NASA High School Aerospace Scholars Program, a seven month online program enabling students to discover the past, present, and future of exploration on and off Earth. Her performance in this online program resulted in her selection to the on-site High School Aerospace Scholars Summer Experience where as part of a team, Carol Anne explored Martian geosystems, satellite mapping, in-situation resource utilization and research for living organisms. Carol Anne uses her passion for engineering to take 3D printing and Python classes, as well as learning to reverse engineer microchips, as a member of the Dallas MakerSpace. Carol Anne is hoping to invent new technologies to help solve our current energy crisis.
Lucy Young – The Hockaday School
Lucy Young will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she will major in Computer Science. In school, she has served as Co-Captain of the Varsity Cross-Country team, President of the Academic Council, and Vice President of Math Club. Lucy helped start the FIRST Robotics Competition Team 6898, eventually qualifying to compete at the 2018 FIRST World Championships. She also founded and led the 3-D Printing Club on campus. Academically, Lucy is a National Merit Scholar, qualified for MIT Math Prize for Girls, and received the Rice University Book Award. Outside of school, she is an accomplished pianist, having won several competitions. Lucy is also passionate about sharing her knowledge and is an active tutor to many. During her junior and senior summers, she worked on research projects focusing on clean energy technologies at the University of Texas at Dallas. Lucy is excited to pursue engineering in college and beyond.
2020 Dallas SWE Annie Colaço Scholarship Recipient – Collegiate Leaders
The Dallas Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is delighted to announce the recipients of the Annie Colaço Scholarship for local college students. The scholarship is named in honor of Annie Colaço (1899-1991), the grandmother to SWE lifetime member Nandika D’Souza. Annie Colaço epitomized selfless service and lifelong learning, which is reflected in the SWE mission.
Dallas SWE is excited to recognize these outstanding SWE collegiate leaders and encourages each recipient to continue to be a SWE member upon graduation. The Society of Women Engineers, founded in 1950, is a not-for- profit educational and service organization. SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations and be recognized for their life-changing contributions and achievements as engineers and leaders.
Medha Aiyah – University of Texas at Dallas
Medha Aiyah is a student at the University of Texas at Dallas working toward her B.S. in Computer Science. As Vice President of the UTD SWE section in FY20, Medha leveraged her strong communication skills to enable collaboration and innovation in many outreach events with Girls Who Code, Dallas Arboretum, UTD, and industrial professionals. Medha was instrumental in developing WEHack, a hackathon specifically for the women of UTD which is planned to be a yearly event. She is looking forward to being the President of the UTD SWE Section for the 2020-2021 academic school year and creating new opportunities such as peer-to-peer mentorship program for the SWE-UTD members. Post-graduation, Medha aims to be a voice for a larger community of girls and break barriers to make a difference in the tech world.
Gabriella DiLiegro – Southern Methodist University
Gabriella DiLiegro is a student at Southern Methodist University working toward her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics. As Treasurer of the SMU SWE Section, Gabriella has streamlined the financial processes for the section and created new avenues to receive donations and funding. These changes will have a positive financial impact to the section for many years. Gabriella also serves as a mentor for other girls in her major, counselling them through the challenges of being a woman in her department. After graduation she plans to go to graduate school to get her master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
Morgan Muir – Southern Methodist University
Morgan Muir is a student at Southern Methodist University working toward her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. As Vice President of External Affairs for the SMU SWE Section, Morgan has worked tirelessly to grow the K-12 outreach program. She forged new relationships with the SMU section of Women in Science & Engineering and developed a SWE service committee within the section. Over the past academic year, she has successfully planned 5 outreach events and 2 site visits. After graduation, she plans to enter an engineering rotational program and continute to connect with other SWE members.