
Hello
Michala is a first-year M.S. Computer Engineering student at George Washington University, focusing her degree in Computer Architecture & High-Performance Computing. She is a Lafayette College alumnus who is passionate about using engineering to make the world a better place. Aside from academics, Michala is a musician who plays violin, sings, and composes original pieces.
My Story
My passion for engineering began in middle school, when I attended a camp known as Women Empowered by Science (WEBS). As an organization intending to promote women in STEM, it had a variety of workshops focused on chemistry, physics, and other fields. The portion that inspired me the most was the robotics portion, where we programmed LEGO Mindstorm robots to complete various tasks. I enjoyed this workshop so much that I decided to join the WEBS Cyberspiders FIRST robotics team. Though the team never advanced past regionals during my three-year tenure, it sparked my interest in engineering; who knew that I could use my computer skills to solve problems and make the world a better place? WEBS helped ignite a spark for STEM, and I quickly realized that engineering was the career for me.
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To take the next steps in my path to an engineering career, I attended Lafayette College for my undergraduate experience. I graduated in May 2024 as an Electrical and Computer Engineering major and a Music minor. While at Lafayette, I conducted research as a Clare Booth Luce (CBL) scholar- a program to support women in undergraduate engineering fields interested in pursuing research- analyzing priority queue architectures built in FPGAs. I continued this research for my honors thesis, focusing on the proposed QuickQ implementation. While at Lafayette, I was also a board member of IEEE, a member of the Eta Kappa Nu and Alpha Psi Omega honors societies, and a two-time Study Abroad participant (a semester in Madrid and three weeks in Italy).
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I have also been passionate about music from a young age. A dancer at age three and a vocalist at age eight, I started developing musicality and rhythm from a young age. I started taking violin lessons when I was ten, which absolutely changed my life for the better. I have had the honors of being concertmaster in both my high school's and college's chamber orchestras. I also made local history for my vocals, as I was the first student from my high school to qualify and attend the NAfME All-National Chorus festival in Fall 2019. However, my musical abilities are still continuing to improve. I will start my tenure as a violinist at George Washington University's orchestra in Fall 2024, and I am continuing my pursuits in composition.
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Aside from engineering and music, I am very passionate about baseball. I am a born and raised Yankees fan, though I have grown to love the sport in its entirety as I reached adulthood. You may catch me watching a Yankees game in my free time, and you will definitely see me keeping score at every game I attend! I also am a big reader and crafter, as I love to crochet and pursue small projects for my friends and family.
Contact
Do you have an opportunity or question for me? I am happy to connect with you! Please reach out to me at one of the following:
(570) 855-6797