When Georgia Southern University graduate student Esther Omoyiwola found out she’d been awarded the 2025 Amateur Radio Digital Communications Scholarship, it was not only a recognition of her academic achievements. It was another example of her resilience.
Having been turned down for the award just one year earlier, Omoyiwola, a native of Nigeria studying electrical engineering at the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing, approached this year’s application differently.
“I made up my mind to be intentional in my application,” she said. “I took my time and put a lot of thought into my answers. I put 100% of myself into this.”
That determination was shaped by a journey that began thousands of miles away.
“I remember the day I was leaving Nigeria,” she recalled. “I was at the airport with my friends and family, but I had no idea what life the next day would look like. I was going to a place I’d never been.”
When she arrived at Georgia Southern, she quickly found strength and support from the large Nigerian student community at the University.
“It was really important for me to find my group,” said Omoyiwola. “I needed to associate with people who understood my background, those people who understand me without having ever spoken.”
And now it was time to get to work.
She quickly immersed herself in research under the mentorship of Masoud Davari, Ph.D., focusing on power converters and machine learning applications.
“A converter is a system that helps convert electricity from one level to another,” she explained. “They contain a multitude of sensors, measuring things like voltage, temperature and current. That data is used to help the converter adjust the electrical flow to the necessary levels.”
She used complex algorithms and machine learning to detect and correct sensor errors before they affect performance.
“Converters are used in equipment found in all sorts of industries,” she explains. “Businesses can lose a lot of money if they aren’t working optimally at 100 percent.”
After countless hours of research and time spent in the lab, Omoyiwola found herself face-to-face with the Amateur Radio Digital Communications scholarship application for 2025. And this time, she wasn’t holding back.
“When I started the application, I said I was going to give it my best,” she said. “But this…I never expected to be chosen like this.”
Omoyiwola plans to use the scholarship money to purchase tools and resources to support her research, as well as to cover some school expenses.
Now, her focus turns toward helping the next generation of women engineers. Young girls just like her, facing uncertainty as they wait in the airport to board the plane that will take them to their next chapter in life.
“I enjoy paying it forward,” she said. “When I get the opportunity to volunteer, whether it’s with Society of Women Engineers or just going into the high schools to meet with young girls interested in engineering, I want to help them along the same path I took.”
A path she says she didn’t take alone.
“When I came to the States, all I had was faith in my heart that God was going to help me through this season of my life,” she said. “And I was right.”