Emma Griffith
Class of 2023
Major: Electrical Engineering
Hometown: Ellicott City, MD
High School: Howard High School

What Made You Decide to Attend UMD?
I was drawn to UMD by the strong engineering program. In high school, I knew I wanted to be an engineer but was unsure of the specific discipline I wanted to study. Being able to come in as an Undecided Engineering major and explore my various interests played a large role in my decision — and of course, the fact that Washington, DC is only a metro ride away is always a bonus!
Best Experience with a Class or Project
My best class experience has to be working with a team to build an Over Sand Vehicle (OSV) for ENES100. The class is divided into several project and presentation milestones, and during our first presentation, we absolutely flopped. Determined not to let that happen again, we started organizing our team into subprojects, making use of extra lab time, and even having team bonding nights at the dining hall. As the project neared the end, we had mostly perfected our OSV, only to have it start making mistakes on the day of the competition. On our last chance, we finally were able to make it work again and ended up winning the competition for our division!
Favorite Class In Major
ENEE222: Discrete Signal Analysis
Favorite Class Out of Major
INST154: Apollo at 50
Student Organizations/Extracurricular Activities
I am a part of both the Electrical & Computer Engineering Departmental Honors and Honors Humanities Living Learning Community. I am also an Undergraduate Teaching Fellow for ENEE101: Introduction to Electrical & Computer Engineering. Outside of class, I am a part of Engineers Without Borders and Club jogging.
Favorite On-Campus Event
Soccer games and anything on McKeldin Mall!
Favorite Research or Study Abroad Experiences
As part of my internship after freshman year, I was on a team investigating the efficacy of pooled PCR testing for COVID-19 to conserve resources. It was so cool to be able to participate in something so contemporary while still gaining valuable skills in modeling and simulation that will continue to help me in my career as an electrical engineer.
Cool Engineering Experience
This past summer, I had the opportunity to work for NASA Headquarters as part of the Space Communications and Navigations (SCaN) internship program. Even though the internship was virtual, I loved being able to be part of a community of interns and mentors to learn from and getting to see the inner workings of NASA. I developed modeling and simulation code to help understand contemporary problems, and I even had the opportunity to travel to Cape Canaveral and view a launch
Top