Valesia Davis, BSME ’23, Wins Louis Stokes Alliance Award

November 6, 2023

Valesia Davis, BSME ’23, earned the Louis Stokes Alliance Award, receiving a stipend of living and educational expenses while continuing her education at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T). The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program focuses on granting minority STEM graduate students an opportunity to continue their education, with the goal of diversifying STEM fields by implementing evidence-based strategies .

Davis is partaking in the LSAMP Bridge to Doctorate Activity program through the NSF so that she might gain more research experience before working in the engineering industry. Having completed a summer internship with Lam Research, a semiconductor research firm in California, she hopes to meet more people and network with engineers in other areas of engineering.

While volleying her options after completing her mechanical engineering degree, Davis unexpectedly found the grant that would cover her tuition in addition to the stipend. “It might have been difficult to achieve without funding help,” she added. “I have more time to decide exactly what I’m going to do.” With a master’s degree, Davis will be able to receive a higher position in the industry than if she were to enter the field immediately after graduating with a bachelor’s degree.

“I’m really interested in mechanical system design, material processing, and heat transfer,” she said. Even with industry experience and a variety of courses, along with the other recipients, Davis’s advantage with this program will give her a better well-rounded experience before committing to a job.

The Bridge to Doctorate Activity program at NC A&T is rewarded for one year and benefits a dozen students with an overall grant of $1,075,000. To encourage these students to pursue a PhD, this grant requires prospective students to study applied sciences and technology; computational data science and engineering; computer science; electrical, industrial and systems, mechanical, or nano engineering.