David Mejia — Outstanding Undergraduate
David Mejia
B.S. in Informatics with a focus in Geoinformatics
Graduated from Vista Grande High School in Casa Grande, Arizona
Originally from Los Angeles, California
David Mejia’s toughest time in college turned out to be his most rewarding.
In his junior year, he had unusually heavy course loads each semester and felt buried under “tons of work,” he recalls.
“I was so stressed, wondering how I could possibly keep up and questioning what I was doing here,” he says.
But he soldiered on, and in both semesters earned A’s in almost every course.
“At that point, I truly knew I could do engineering and do it successfully,” he says.
Now, having finished his undergraduate work, Mejia is setting his sights on a master’s degree in engineering or business sometime in the future — and hoping to work for a company that will support his pursuit of an advanced degree.
He sees the extra education as a step toward his overall career aspiration “to revolutionize the world by developing technology that will help make people and the planet healthier.”
And winning a Nobel Prize for such an accomplishment would put a nice finishing touch on his long-term goals, he says.
The bold outlook on his future wasn’t as pronounced when he first arrived at college. He was the only one in his family to pursue a degree in a technically demanding field like engineering, and he found it difficult.
But he would find Arizona State University provided “the perfect mix of fun and education,” he says, along with “an amazing faculty,” the benefits of a diverse student body and exposure to knowledge in a broad range of interests — including geospatial technology, which he “fell in love with.”
Thus motivated, his high grades earned him a place on the Dean’s List every semester. He is also getting valuable experience through an internship in his field, working for the international information technology services corporation Atos.
Outside of the classroom, he served as vice president of community service for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and was a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.
His biggest collegiate accomplishment, he says, is “the pride I have given my family.”
If he could have a superpower to enhance his skills, Mejia says it would be “the ability to process information and learn at the speed of light,” so that he could “take in all the knowledge from books and peers and use it to create innovations that would make the world better.”
His respite from work is “being surrounded by nature,” and animals, particularly playful dogs.
He also has a passion for making things.
“A love for building things runs in my blood,” he says. “Give me any software and some materials and I’ll have a huge smile on my face all day.”