Computer Science Student Wins $10,000 Doctoral Scholarship

Kara Olson, a graduate student in computer science at Old Dominion University, has received a 2008 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) Doctoral Level Scholarship worth $10,000.

Two of these scholarships were awarded this year by the National Training and Simulation Association, an affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association. The other award went to a student at the University of Southern California. Another ODU student, Quynh-Anh Mimi Nguyen, who is in the doctoral program in modeling and simulation, won the scholarship in 2004.

Olson earned bachelor's degrees in computer science and mathematics in 1997 and a master's in computer science in 2007 from ODU. Her Ph.D. research focus is formal analysis of simulation models to facilitate model developers' and model users' understanding of those models. Her major professor is Michael Overstreet, acting chair of the computer sciences department and associate dean of the College of Sciences.

With the scholarship comes an invitation for Olson to the I/ITSEC in December in Orlando, where her achievements will be recognized and she will be able to review the latest in simulation and training systems technologies.