Cierra Williams is a target digital network analyst at the National Security Agency (NSA). She creates products that exploit foreign communications and makes the agency accessible to kids.

More recently, she helped employees at NSA Georgia to build a gamified competition, which has become a popular and innovative cyberlearning opportunity for students in the area.  Cierra also volunteers with Brown Girls Who Code and Girls Who Code.

"I've always had a passion for STEM," she said in her speech as she accepted the Student Leadership Award for community outreach. Still, she also felt she was at a disadvantage in the technical field.

However, being nominated by her colleagues at the NSA and winning her first national award has boosted her confidence and inspired her to do even more outreach to encourage others to pursue science, technology engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

The GEM Student Leadership Award went to a graduate research assistant at Ohio State University. Samantha Mendez is helping to engineer the next frontier in energy systems. She is also passionate about giving back to her community. 

"My mother and grandmother showed me that hard work and resilience can take you where you want to go. They abandoned their education to support their families and because of their sacrifice, I am now a Ph.D. student in STEM. As I endure hardships, I remember the women of color who made my journey possible. It is my life's goal to facilitate this path for others."

Samantha is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Doan-Nguyen group at Ohio State University. Currently, she is working on the synthesis and testing of nanomaterial additives for batteries.

The project is sponsored by Honda R&D and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry-University Cooperative Research Center.

“Ms. Mendez is an outstanding and engaging member of our lab,” said Vicky Doan-Nguyen, Ph.D.

She is also devoted to supporting her community and fellow STEM graduates through the Black and Brown Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology Sisterhood, and the College of Engineering's Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS) Graduate Wellness Committee.

As a young child, Samantha worked alongside her grandfather patching broken pipes and finding ways to retain heat during cold winters. All of which inspired her love for mechanics.

A first-generation college student, Samantha majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, then switched to materials science and engineering at Ohio State for her Ph.D. She’s now focused on using myriad electron imaging techniques at the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis.

Award recipients of the GEM Student Leadership Award are GEM fellows of the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science.