Supporting each other through graduate school

Vincent and Jasmine Davidson go together like 1’s and 0’s in a computer program.

The Davidsons are a married couple and among the newest Ph.D. students in the School of Computing. Both are Bridge to Doctorate fellows and would like to become professors after graduation.

They are supporting each other– and their two children– as they make their way through graduate school.

Vincent was in a doctoral program at the University of Florida last academic year when he decided to transfer because he knew a readiness program at Clemson would open new opportunities for Jasmine to also pursue a Ph.D.

“Of course, I thought that was amazing,” Jasmine said. “That’s one of the reasons I love him. I agree, though, that it was important for us to be in the same area of study. We just have that kind of relationship where we are friends first and also business partners. We have that kind of understanding.”

Vincent is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science with Dr. Nina Hubig as his advisor. Jasmine is working toward a Ph.D. in human-centered computing and is co-advised by Drs. Kelly Caine and Nathan McNeese.

Vincent and Jasmine met while both were working in a campus recreation center, Jasmine as a student director, during their undergraduate years at Winston-Salem State University.

Jasmine graduated in December 2016 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in interdisciplinary studies, and Vincent received a Bachelor of Science in computer science in 2018.

Jasmine later enrolled at South University and studied for an Accelerated Master of Business Administration, a degree she received in 2019. She has also done postgraduate work at the University of Florida and has worked internships at GE and Intel and full-time jobs at Teleperformance and AML RightSource.

At Clemson, she is in a program that helps prepare students without undergraduate computer science degrees to enter the master’s program in computer science. While Jasmine is going for a Ph.D. rather than a master’s, the program is helping provide her with a computer science background.

Vincent has worked as an IT technical associate with TIAA and as an intern for Intel. In pursuit of a Ph.D. he has studied at the University of South Carolina and the University of Florida. At Clemson, he is a GEM Fellow and a Ricoh Scholar.

Both Davidsons look to family for inspiration.

For Vincent, it’s Statesville, North Carolina’s Deborah Jones, the aunt who raised him and taught English for 50 years, which he said helps explain how he got into natural language processing.

Jasmine’s greatest influences were her late grandfather, Edward McKeller, and her grandmother, Ethel McKeller, of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Jasmine said the 2009 passing of her grandfather, who was a sergeant and paratrooper in the Army, helped motivate her to engage in lifelong learning.

The college sweethearts have a 3-year-old boy named after his father and a 1-year-old girl, Angel.

The Davidsons, still students themselves, already have the next generation enrolled at Clemson. Vincent Jr. is a student at the Clemson University Child Development Center.