Last Friday, I had the privilege of presenting my research at the Tennessee Academy of Science’s 135th annual meeting, held at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville. I traveled there not only to represent Austin Peay State University’s Department of Mathematics, but also to share a piece of my heritage, which is something I often try to do.
I left with something far greater: a deeper understanding of why our voices, our cultures, and our campuses belong in academic spaces just as much as anyone else’s. I presented my project, Sani, a trilingual Garifuna–English–Spanish AI chatbot I designed using embeddings and similarity search to support low-resource Natural Language Processing. Sani was made to assist with the preservation and revitalization of the Garifuna language, an endangered Afro-Indigenous language in Belize and Central America.
For me, Sani is more than a research project. Sani serves as a bridge between technology and cultural identity.
After weeks of preparation, I was honored to receive 1st Place in the Math & Computer Science I Student Oral Presentations. But the story doesn’t end with me. In fact, it begins with something much bigger.
APSU students won every single award in both of the Math & Computer Science oral presentation categories. This accomplishment is a testament to the excellence of APSU’s programs and students.
Math & Computer Science I:
1st — Alysia Norales
2nd — Jesutoba Lopez
3rd — Mayuri Patel
Math & Computer Science II:
1st — Alexis Mahar
2nd — Quinn Schneider
3rd — Christian Avila
To hear every APSU name called one after another was inspiring. I felt a rush and cheered every time a colleague’s name was announced. It served as a reminder that excellence is not limited to large research institutions or senior researchers. It thrives right here on our campus, in our classrooms, during late-night research sessions and among innovative students.
Personally, winning 1st Place as an international student and a Garifuna woman made the day even more meaningful for me. I often think about how few spaces exist where my culture, my language and the academic world meet. Standing there, speaking about Garifuna history and Belizean identity at a statewide scientific conference and watching people react with curiosity and interest as I share about my heritage is an experience I’ll never forget.
This moment taught me that research is stronger when it acknowledges its origins. Our stories, our languages and our innovations deserve to be part of the STEM conversation.
To my fellow APSU winners, Congratulations! You represented yourself and APSU well. To the faculty who invested their time and encouraged us, thank you for believing in our potential.
If you’re a student reading this and feel that your background, identity or accent is holding you back, your heritage is not a barrier; it is a valuable contribution. Show up anyway, and when you do, you might walk away with more than an award.
You might walk away knowing you made space for someone who will come after you.
