Among Clemson’s more than 5,000 graduates this May are five Breakthrough Scholars, the first from an Honors College program designed to educate and keep top science, technology, engineering and math students in-state for their undergraduate education.
Scholars are chosen for their academic excellence, passion for research and discovery, intention to pursue advanced degrees and the potential to be change agents in STEM fields. They receive a full cost of education scholarship, dedicated academic and professional development and networking opportunities with local-area professionals in their fields, as well as faculty mentors in research labs both on and off campus.
Scholars say these supports were a significant factor in their decision to stay in-state for their undergraduate education.
“I was homeschooled my whole life before Clemson and am the first person in my family to go to college, so the transition to what felt like a giant school was a big one,” said computer science major Chloe Crozier, who accepted a job with global artificial intelligence (AI) computing company NVIDIA. “The Breakthrough Scholars Program is one of the biggest reasons I decided to commit to Clemson overall.”
Sarah Winslow, inaugural dean of the Clemson University Honors College, said that the program’s first cohort of scholars have become trailblazers on campus.
“Over the past four years, these scholars have both shaped the Breakthrough Scholars Program and served as shining examples of the program’s mission and vision,” said Winslow. “Every single one of these students has made a difference at Clemson and beyond, working in research labs both on and off campus, interning at leading universities and technology companies across the country, and taking leadership roles across campus and in community-based organizations.”
The program started in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences (CECAS) before moving to the Honors College in its second year to expand its scope to STEM majors in any academic college.
Now in its fourth year, the program has 21 scholars from 14 communities throughout the state. Over only the first three years of the program, scholars had published nine papers in academic journals (either contributing research or cited as first authors), delivered more than 50 presentations related to their research, and interned at 18 different businesses and universities.
Christian Ihekweazu said the program has shaped his entire Clemson Experience.
“Being a part of a program like this and seeing all of the resources and time they were willing to invest in me made a huge impact,” said Ihekweazu. “I’m more confident now than when I arrived at Clemson, largely thanks to all the wonderful mentors and faculty members I’ve interacted with. Coming to Clemson has definitely been the greatest decision of my life.”
Ihekweazu and fellow Breakthrough Scholar Kristen Guernsey were recently recognized with the University’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, presented annually to two seniors for outstanding service to the University and its surrounding community.
Three of the five graduating scholars plan to pursue graduate degrees in the fall, with two starting careers at leading global companies.
Graduating Breakthrough Scholars
Kwame Andre from Greenville, South Carolina majored in computer science. He interned at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and at Deloitte. Andre also worked on several projects in the University’s Watt Applied AI Research Team, including for Prisma Health in Greenville. He plans to stay at Clemson to pursue a Ph.D. focused on how AI and human users can work together under the guidance of Christopher Flathmann, an assistant professor in the Human-Centered Computing Division of the School of Computing.
Chloe Crozier from Charleston, South Carolina majored in computer science with minors in mathematics and economics. She interned at Deloitte and the Naval Information Warfare Center-Atlantic (NWIC-A). Crozier also completed a departmental honors thesis project that developed an open-source tool for high-performance cluster (HPC) security. After graduation, Crozier will work as an incoming solutions architect with NVIDIA.
Kristen Guernsey from Fort Mill, South Carolina majored in computer engineering. She interned at the Texas Advanced Computing Center last summer and researched high performance computing (HPC) data compression and HPC fault tolerance. Guernsey is the first author of a research paper published in an industry journal with faculty mentor Jon Calhoun, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. She was recently recognized by CECAS with the Phi Kappa Phi Certificate of Merit. Starting this fall, Guernsey will work towards her master’s degree in electrical engineering at Stanford University.
Christian Ihekweazu from Orangeburg, South Carolina majored in computer science with a minor in artificial intelligence. He interned in the University’s TRACE Research Group on AI and human-centered computing-based research, Naval Information Warfare Center-Atlantic (NWIC-A) and twice at Amazon Web Services before being offered a full-time position starting this summer. Ihekweazu also worked as part of the Watt AI program, which brings together students, staff, researchers and AI technologies to solve complex analytics problems in the greater Clemson network. In addition to the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, Ihekweazu was also recently recognized as CECAS’s Outstanding Senior in Computing or Applied Sciences.
Justin Guevara-Silva from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina majored in computer science and was part of the program’s second cohort. He interned twice in software engineering and development roles at Amazon and completed a senior capstone project for NVIDIA. Guevara-Silva finished his undergraduate degree a year early and plans to stay at Clemson to earn his master’s degree in data science informatics.
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