Trio Of Students Claim Prestigious Honors

Baylor University senior Melissa Yeakley, an international studies major from Hurst, Texas, has received a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study in China this summer as part of the U.S. government's National Security Language Initiative to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical need foreign languages.

The CLS Program provides fully funded seven-to-10 week group-based intensive language instruction and extensive cultural enrichment experiences held overseas for U.S. students. Yeakley will spend two months studying intermediate Chinese at Soochow University in Suzhou, China.

"This on-site learning opportunity will help Melissa improve her language proficiency, strengthen her understanding about Chinese culture and society, and prepare her for her future career and study in U.S.-China relations," said Dr. Xin Wang, MSED '97, BS '98, EDD '02, assistant professor of Chinese and interdisciplinary studies and associate director of Asian studies at Baylor.

The CLS program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is administered by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Juan Yaquian, a senior electrical and computer engineering major from Temple, Texas, was awarded a highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation to pursue graduate work at the University of California-Berkeley.

Yaquian will work towards his doctorate studying high frequency analog circuitry with applications towards wireless communication. The fellowship will provide him a $30,000 annual stipend for three years and other funds to pay for the cost of the education and travel.

"When I finally came to the realization that I had won and it was not a dream, the first thing I said was 'Thank you Jesus'," Yaquian said. "The fellowship allows me to join a research center or group that is pursuing the work that most interests me as opposed to one that has more funding."

The purpose of the NSF scholarship is to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science, mathematics and engineering in the United States and to reinforce its diversity. The fellowship offers recognition and three years of support for advanced study to 900 outstanding graduate students nationwide in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, and behavioral and social sciences. 
Already, Yaquian has interned at MIT, researched in a summer program at Cal-Berkeley, won a Goldwater Scholarship and traveled to Honduras with Baylor's Engineers with a Mission. Beyond Baylor, Yaquian's ultimate engineering goal is to develop technology to benefit society as a whole. Already he sees himself pursuing research that eventually will improve the ability of microwave imaging--a safer alternative to current imaging modalities --to detect cancerous tumors.

Graduate student Krystal Pree is the first Baylor student to be awarded acceptance into the United States Geological Survey's Student Career Employment Program.

The SCEP is a prestigious progressive program that provides for the integration of a student's academic studies into federal work experience with the potential for non-competitive conversion into the federal career service.

Pree has finished her first year of graduate school at Baylor, working towards a master's degree in environmental studies and human health risk assessment. 

Pree, who was raised in Stamps, Ark., plans to attend law school in order to pursue a career as an environmental lawyer or obtain a Ph.D. in environmental studies. She is interested in protecting human health by performing risk assessments for communities exposed to hazardous waste.