Awards to academic triumphs

In September 2023, I had the privilege of receiving the Scholars Academy Career and Professional Development (SAP) Award, which helped fund a trip to Hannover, Germany, where I presented my first peer-reviewed research paper at the 31st International IEEE Requirements Engineering Conference. Attending this conference marked a significant milestone, formally initiating my journey into the realm of post-secondary research. Prior to this, I had dedicated several months of diligent work to submit and finalize my research paper titled “Automatic Domain-Specific Corpora Generation from Wikipedia - A Replication Study,” as a first author.

Presenting this paper was a unique and enriching experience for several reasons. Firstly, as my paper was a replication study, I had the opportunity to present it to the authors of the original paper upon which my research was based. This interaction provided invaluable insights into how we could further explore the research area. Secondly, networking with colleagues from the software engineering community proved to be immensely valuable. Establishing connections with PhD students from across Europe, the United States, and Canada was particularly rewarding, especially considering I was the youngest attendee at the conference.

Beyond the academic endeavors, receiving the award enabled me to explore Germany and visit cities like Hamburg, which I had never experienced before. Overall, the SAP award has opened my eyes to the world of research, a realm that hadn't previously figured prominently in my long-term career plans. Now, I am excited to pursue further research opportunities and am on track to publish several more papers in 2024.