An internship at Brookhaven National Lab. Two internships at NASA. And now a scholarship from an international honor society.
SJC Long Island senior Danielle Fieseler, a mathematics and computer science major, received the Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) Academic Achievement Award this September from the International Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines.
“I was completely shocked and amazed that I received this scholarship,” the Ronkonkoma, New York, native said. “I was sitting in my evening course and my professor gave us a five-minute break. I received a notification on my phone stating that I received a scholarship. I didn’t believe what I was reading.
“I just printed out the papers that they had sent me immediately, looked at them and saw that the other individuals who received (this) scholarship were from large schools,” she continued. “I was the only one from a small school. It made me proud.”
Fieseler, a member of St. Joseph’s Chapter of UPE, found out about the scholarship during one of the honor society’s meetings. S. Jane Fritz, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at SJC Long Island, nominated Fieseler as the one undergraduate student to apply for the scholarship.
Pursuing Her Passion
“I’ve always been interested in mathematics and computer science,” Fieseler said. “My interest grew a lot once I started doing internships with the government. S. Jane has provided me so much insight and guidance in picking the right internships. She has definitely made a huge impact on my college experience at St. Joseph’s College.”
Fieseler, 20, spent this summer interning at NASA‘s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland researching cybersecurity threats. During the summer of 2017, she interned at Brookhaven National Lab, under the Department of Education, doing mathematical research. And the summer prior to that, she interned in the education department at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
“The mathematics and computer science department is extremely proud of Danielle Fieseler for being awarded the UPE Scholarship,” said Victoria Hong, of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. “Danielle exemplifies the best in a St. Joseph’s College student. She is intelligent, hardworking, and a kind and caring person. The scholarship is a well-deserved acknowledgement of her outstanding achievements.”
