Jessica Williams was recognized this fall for her academic excellence and commitment to service as a recipient of the Craig C. Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award. Williams is honored to have been selected among the many graduating seniors. She was particularly honored that her commitment to service and leadership activities was recognized as excellence in engineering.
“To have that be validated was really meaningful to me,” she said.
Public service is ingrained in her engineering identity. Her deep involvement in the community, from helping to plan the city of College Station’s birthday party to creating nonpartisan voter guides, reflects her belief that civic engagement is part of an engineer’s responsibility.
Williams is a senior at Texas A&M University pursuing dual degrees in computer science and math. Her varied interests, including physics, have propelled her to participate in research; she has worked for the MIT Quantum and Precision Measurement Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) at Texas A&M. Before Williams graduates this spring, she will have accomplished an uncommon feat of completing two undergraduate theses.
Academic interests
Williams is interested in quantum computing because it combines computer science, math and particle physics. She explained that quantum computers are “fundamentally different” than classical computers.
A classical computer runs on a code of zeroes and ones. “If it’s like a rat going through a maze, it can only turn in one direction and go one step at a time,” Williams said.
A quantum computer, however, runs on numbers that are between zero and one.
“You can create more complex data and perform more interesting transformations,” Williams said. “It’s like you can go through every part of the maze at the same time, and then all the paths that don’t work will cancel out, and you’ll be left with the correct one.”
Williams has explored her interest in physics through her research with CERN in Dr. Alexei Safonov’s lab. Her research centers on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator. The LHC collides protons every 25 nanoseconds, generating substantial data.
“There are various levels of triggers that make decisions about which data is important or interesting enough to keep. My research is working on machine learning to improve some of those triggering algorithms,” Williams said. She explained that research involving the LHC is important because “understanding particle physics aids in the development of new technology and our understanding of the universe.”
Public service
Williams entered public service through the Student Government Association at Texas A&M, where she has served as a student senator since March 2021. She discovered an interest in improving relations between the community and the university.
As a student senator, she created nonpartisan voter guides and hosted candidate forums for local government positions. Williams said she “helped guide the revival of the off-campus student services office and improve A&M’s outreach and education to students living off campus.” She has represented students’ interests in various local discussions including the Middle Housing rezoning plan, Northgate regulations and early voting locations. She and another student senator collaborated with Residence Life on a project to improve dorm security, raising over $250,000 for the upgrades.
While serving in the student government, she also created the concept for the Volunteer Opportunities Fair, and her successor brought it to life. The student government invited 50 charities to campus for the fair so students and staff members could learn about opportunities to help.
“I’m passionate about doing work that matters. And I think that’s something that gets a little bit lost in engineering. Sometimes it’s all this abstraction, and ‘I’m building,’ but what are we building for?” she said.
I’m passionate about doing work that matters. And I think that’s something that gets a little bit lost in engineering. Sometimes it’s all this abstraction, and ‘I’m building,’ but what are we building for?
This is why Williams believes it is important to advocate for service as part of the engineering identity.
In June 2023, Williams attended the International Town and Gown Association conference with Mayor John Nichols and a representative from student activities. At the conference, she gave a talk about students as community stakeholders, and she participated in a panel discussion.
Williams is also on College Station’s Historic Preservation Commission and helped plan and host the city’s birthday party in Fall 2023.
“It’s very easy to get involved in local government. You’ll find it’s crazy how much you can do and how many people you can meet just by introducing yourself and telling them who you are and what you’re about,” she said.
Future plans
Williams intends to continue studying computer science after she graduates from Texas A&M. She is applying to Ph.D. programs and plans to focus her research on quantum computing.
She hopes to further connect her involvement in public service and engineering in the future and encourages other engineers to join her.
“It’s very easy to get involved in civic service,” she said. “And you have an obligation as an engineer to have your voice be heard in scientific and technical policy.”