May 1, 2008

Scholarship Winner Keeps Racking Up the Honors

Lauren Jackson peers into a microscope at a Monteith Research Center lab on Centennial Campus. (Photo: Mark Daniel)

Lauren Jackson, the College of Engineering’s latest Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship winner, is accustomed to racking up academic honors.

The junior in materials science and engineering landed a special Undergraduate Research Energy Award. She worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. And she’s a member of the University Honors Program.

Now, the star student is considering post-graduation options. Among the choices: graduate school at NC State. After all, she said, the climate there helped make her so successful.

"I think that the size of the University is a real benefit," Jackson said. "There are so many professors here that you can get a wide range of perspectives. There are also more facilities and more opportunities for corporate partnerships here than you would get at a smaller school."

Jackson’s interest in engineering began long before she arrived in Raleigh. Her decision to leave her home in Wilkesboro and finish high school at the North Carolina School of Science and Math had a lot to do with her ending up where she is today.

"I had heard a lot of good things from other people who had gone there, and the idea of going somewhere really challenging was exciting to me," Jackson said. "Going there was a big influence in my choosing engineering."

During high school, Jackson participated in some of the outreach programs offered by the College of Engineering at NC State, which she said were also very influential in her decision to choose engineering.

"I first began to consider NC State when I attended a week-long summer engineering program," Jackson said. "After that, I was able to come spend a day in the (materials science and engineering) department seeing the labs and learning about the curriculum. I thought that it would be a good blend of my interests."

Once enrolled, Jackson was able to capitalize on the College’s corporate partnerships when she worked in conjunction with Nextreme, a designer and manufacturer of micro-scale thermal and power management products based in Research Triangle Park. Jackson got the opportunity to work with company through her adviser, Dr. Mark Johnson, who introduced her to several of the employees there.

Along the way, she has established herself as a star student, racking up awards and scholarships. She was one of two NC State students this year to receive a coveted Goldwater Scholarship, which covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

And the awards for Jackson keep coming. Earlier this month, she received an honorable mention for the Outstanding Women’s Award handed out by the NC State Panhellenic Association.

With graduation more than a year away, Jackson continues to focus on her research. Most days find her in the labs of Monteith Research Center, researching ways to develop a new manufacturing process for thermoelectric materials. The project promises to greatly improve efficiency in a variety of devices.

Jackson plans to attend graduate school after graduation and hopes to continue doing research in an industrial or government-funded lab.

The good news: She plans on applying to NC State.

-daniel-

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