Sitting in her Middle East home in Lebanon, a teenage girl watches the director's cut of the movie Dinosaur. Entranced by how the characters seem to come to life through the illusion of movement and animation, she becomes hooked. Before that moment, the computer was used to play games like PAC-MAN. Somehow, though, the movie characters look better than the real thing, and she wants to learn more.

Keghani Kristelle Kouzoujian begins to devour books on the subject and chases her passion all the way to college, where her computer science minor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar quickly changes into her major.

"I just absolutely love coding," says the fourth-year student. Encouraged by her advisor, she applied for the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. The annual award, worth 5,000 euros, honors the memory of American computer scientist Anita Borg and encourages women to excel in computing and technology and to become role models and leaders in the community. Kouzoujian was selected for the scholarship and honored during a three-day conference in Zurich, Switzerland, where she swapped ideas with other computer scientists from around the world.

Once she earns her degree later this year, she plans to continue her studies on the Pittsburgh campus as a Fifth Year Scholar.
Lisa Kay Davis (HS'09)