Robert Barker/University Photography

Samantha Garwin, on the second floor of Duffield Hall, a place where she spends a lot of time.

College: Arts and Sciences
Major: Information science and neurobiology
Hometown: Paoli, Pa.

Strength in computing and information sciences, Ivy League status, and the opportunity to do undergraduate research. Most importantly, I felt at home on campus!

My role as president and founding member of the Information Science Student Association, which connects students with faculty, alumni and one another to create a stronger sense of community and opportunity within the major. I feel that information science students will be crucial to the evolution of technology and policy; we are trained to evaluate systems from perspectives left unexplored by purely technical fields.

I have been president of the Women's Club Volleyball team since freshman year. We are very competitive, but we have lots of fun as well. Some of my best friends are on the team, and taking on a leadership role helped me develop organizational and project management skills early on. I have also gotten involved in environmental activism; I am currently organizing a group of undergraduates to teach middle school students about climate change.

My four years at Cornell have been filled with trial and error, but with every step I learned more about myself and my values. Without all those "mistakes" I wouldn't be where I am today.

My biology faculty adviser, Laurel Southard, always challenged me to aim for my personal best -- I took harder classes and learned more. Professor Phoebe Sengers taught me how to think outside the box -- I learned to see technology as an expression of human values, rather than simply nuts and bolts. Professor Bill Arms encouraged me to question everything and to value informal intellectual discussion every bit as much as an expert's lecture. My information science adviser, Graeme Bailey, convinced me that anything is possible. These are just a few -- there are too many to name them all!

By far, the more important thing I'll take away from Cornell is the connections I have made with other students.

This summer, traveling and volunteering in Africa. Starting in August I will be working as a solutions engineer at Endeca Technologies Inc., which has been named one of the "20 Companies to Watch" in 2007. I would eventually like to use my information science background to help solve environmental and social issues.