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Electrical and computer engineering graduate Ashley Wesmiller ’03 (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is working as a systems engineer in defense at Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Pa.
Wesmiller graduated summa cum laude in May and was elected to several academic honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most respected undergraduate honors organization in the United States; Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society; and Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for electrical engineers.
She was a participant in Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, in which students collaborate with faculty on research while earning a stipend. She worked with Ismail Jouny, professor and head of electrical and computer engineering, on researching ways to detect land mines. The pair looked at scanned images of land mines and other objects using signal processing techniques to determine efficient ways of differentiating mine images.
“I thought it seemed like a really interesting project, especially because it had such a real life purpose,” says Wesmiller. “For me, this connection to a real life project was the coolest part.”
“Lafayette was a great place for a project like this,” adds Wesmiller. “The engineering labs and resources are great. Lafayette allows students to work one-on-one with professors while at the same time working with high-quality equipment. It does not seem that many schools offer such a great combination of both worlds at the undergraduate level.”
A former Marquis Scholar and goalie of the women’s varsity soccer team, Wesmiller was a recipient of the Eugene P. Chase Phi Beta Kappa Prize, given to sophomores who have demonstrated scholarship as first-year students; the Rexroth Prize in German Language Studies Award, given to students for meritorious achievement in German; the Lehigh Valley Section of the ASM Award, given annually to the student with the most impressive record in the introductory engineering materials course; and the Class of 1913 Trophy, presented to the senior who has attained the greatest distinction as an athlete and a scholar.
Named the Patriot League Women’s Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2000, Wesmiller studied abroad in Brussels, Belgium in spring 2001.
During the January interim session between semesters last year, Wesmiller traveled to Germany and the Czech Republic with 25 other Lafayette students to take a special Lafayette course called “The Open Wall and the New Europe: Berlin, Prague, and Munich.” The class was taught by Rado Pribic, Oliver Edwin Williams Professor of Languages and chair of the International Affairs program, and Robert I. Weiner, Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Professor of History.
Wesmiller and her classmates were immersed in the rapid political, social, and economic changes that have affected Germany and the rest of Europe with the opening of the Berlin Wall. The students reexamined the events leading to the two world wars, the division of Europe, and the new European reality of the 1990s. They visited historical sites, met with people in East and West Germany, and participated in class discussions and readings.
Wesmiller also was a volunteer peer mentor for local Lehigh Valley soccer players.