Summer Scholars Is Life-Changing for International Student

Nikita Sharma never had visited the United States before, much less California, much less Cal State San Marcos.

Even so, as a high school student from a small village in northern India, Sharma knew she wanted to experience Summer Scholars. How could a teenager from half a world away possibly know about CSUSM’s longtime program offering summer research opportunities to undergraduate students?

By applying the same rigorous research skills to her college search process that she ultimately would once she arrived in North San Diego County.

“I knew I wanted to do this program,” Sharma said.

There was just one sizable obstacle in her path: She had no means to pay for higher education. When she was 17, her father had died unexpectedly, and he had been the breadwinner in the family. She was only able to complete her private high school thanks to the generosity of an aunt.

Even now, several years later, Sharma gets overcome with emotion when she thinks about how close she came to her vast educational ambition becoming derailed.

“It still feels overwhelming and like a dream that I’m here,” she said.

When it came time for her marriage to be arranged at age 19, Sharma set one nonnegotiable condition: Her husband had to be willing to help pay for her to attend a university in America. She found Rajat, a collection manager for a financial firm in India, they got married four years ago and now she’s in her final year as a student at CSUSM.

Sharma certainly has maximized her husband’s investment. In August, following her second Summer Scholars experience, she was one of five students honored at the program-culminating poster showcase with scholarship money to continue their research this fall. She received the biggest award, the $8,000 Dr. Norma Baer Maderazo Memorial Scholarship that supports undergraduate students pursuing STEM fields.

A software engineering major, Sharma was recognized for her research project – working with professor Justin Morris, she developed machine learning models to detect insect populations for precision architecture, enabling more targeted pesticide use – as well as her on-campus involvement and her off-campus internships.

Sharma knew next to nothing about machine learning before this year. What she knew was that she wanted to participate in Summer Scholars again after initially doing the program in 2024 (she was studying computer science at the time, and the project involved cybersecurity) and then missing the deadline last year (not to worry, she instead worked as a software engineering intern for Ectron Corporation in San Diego).

Sharma contacted multiple professors to serve as her faculty mentor, and she connected in January with Morris, a computer engineering professor who has taught at CSUSM since 2022.

“He taught me everything, like you teach A to Z to kids,” Sharma said. “I felt it was easy because of him. He was awesome.”

Sharma’s tutoring under Morris coincided with an opportunity to do an internship as a conversation tech fellow with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (persistence paid off, as it marked her third time pursuing the same opening). Sure enough, the work – which will continue until December – concerns machine learning; she’s developing computer models that distinguish adult and juvenile burrowing owls.

Sharma also is extending her work with Morris beyond Summer Scholars. The subject of this project happens to be Morris’ niche: hyperdimensional computing, which involves training a computer on neural networks.

“What impresses me most is not only her technical ability, but her curiosity and willingness to pursue research that creates meaningful impact beyond the university,” Morris said. “Her resilience, compassion and commitment to using technology for the benefit of society are evident in every aspect of her work.”

Sharma, though, is not content to be a standout merely in the research lab. This semester, she chartered the first campus chapter of Girls Who Code, an international nonprofit that aims to support and increase the number of women in STEM. That now makes her the president of three student organizations; the other two are the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) and Alpha Lamba Delta, an academic honor society for first-year students.

And all of this is in addition to the “seven or eight” different on-campus jobs she has held, the current one being technology student assistant in the College of Business Administration.

Of the campus founding of Girls Who Code, Sharma said: “When a young student, like I was back in India, wants to go for something, they often feel doubt about whether they should do it. I went for it anyway, but not everybody has the courage to do that. So having a mentor is the most important thing in life.”

Sharma remains driven by the legacy of her father, who built a prosperous life and family despite not having the means to go to college himself. She yearns to succeed to honor his memory. She moved to and lives in California without any family members – Rajat is able to visit in summer – but this spring she will be joined by her younger brother, Kartik, who will start as a student just as she is wrapping up.

Sharma hopes that her mother will be able to attend her commencement ceremony in May.

“She always says that if your father were here, he would be really proud, and he’s always watching over you in whatever you do,” she said. “She’s a great mother.”

But Sharma’s thirst for education will not be quenched by even by a degree that no one else in her family has obtained. She’s applying to doctoral programs that specialize in machine learning, with UC Berkeley as her top choice.

And to think, it all started with a young girl in India, against all odds, discovering a program called Summer Scholars.

“When somebody nowadays looks at my resume, they say I’ve done a great job,” Sharma said. “But it's not just me. The professors I've worked with, the professors I’ve had class with, my classmates and everybody who has been part of my journey has done well to support me. That's why I can do everything I'm doing right now.

“Honestly, Cal State San Marcos has given me opportunities that I could only dream of.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, communications specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306