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I'm a Kentucky native that has always had an interest in Science. My first science summer camp took place the summer before 8th grade. I went to a summer camp at Western Kentucky University and took various courses but my focus was computer science. I came back very excited and interested in programming, so when high school started I majored in Mathematics with a minor in Biology. I still couldn't decide if I wanted to work with computers or be a veterinarian. Each summer I went to summer camps that focused on math and science, learning more about computers and animals. I have to give much credit to my parents for pushing me to learn more and supporting me to attend the camps and academic extracurricular activities. I entered college, Georgetown College in KY, with a pre-veterinary medicine major, but I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. During my sophomore year, I had a conflict with my advisor in regards of my minor. I wanted to minor in Art for I love doing artistic stuff but I knew that I didn't want to be a starving artist. My advisor wanted me to minor in Chemistry or Biology since I had the pre-vet major, so I changed my major to Computer Science in order to keep the art minor with a focus on computer graphics. After graduation, I went to work for AIC as a consultant for Lexmark International in Lexington, KY. My assignment was to be a quality assurance programmer, which entailed me writing programs to test the printer's handling of graphics. It was a great job, but it didn't really challenge me nor did I use the programming skills I gained in college. Many times I would initiate projects for me to work on so that I could advance my skills, and this experience made me realize that I wanted something more. In May of 1999, I packed all my belongings and went to Muncie, IN to begin my graduate school degree. I was awarded a teaching assistantship, which meant while I was taking challenging courses, I would be teaching classes as well. I enjoyed my graduate school experience, for I learned that I had a gift in teaching and assisting people learn more about computers. My concentration in graduate school was computer graphics and how they associate with programming languages. Prior to my graduation, I decided that I was ready to pursue a doctorate in computer science and that I wanted to work in the academia world, which I feel is my calling. In August of 2000, I started working for Eastman Kodak Company in our Business to Business area as a JAVA developer. I stayed in the B2B group until October 2001 and moved to our Intranet Services Group. My role in the Intranet Services Group encompasses the full cycle of web site development. I design what the site will look like (graphics), create any databases needed for the site, develop the code so the site functions properly, test it, and launch the site. All of the sites that I develop are on Kodak's intranet so they are for internal use only. The best thing about my current career is that I'm not doing the same thing over and over again - sometimes I'm coding, sometimes I'm designing… nothing is repetitive. In addition to working, I'm back in school again working on an E-Commerce Certification at the Rochester Institute of Technology. When I'm not working I spend my time renovating my house and playing with my two Labrador retrievers! I plan to start on my Ph.D. in computer science around 2005!
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