Computer Science student Isabelle Brown has been selected as the first recipient of the Fast Slow Motion Endowed Scholarship in Computer Science for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Fast Slow Motion is a Birmingham-based company founded by UAB alumnus John Burdett, who graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science in 2000. Fast Slow Motion provides support for companies and organizations using Salesforce, a cloud computing firm specializing in customer relationship management.

About the scholarship

Fast Slow Motion established the new scholarship in February 2020 with a goal to provide funding to high-achieving students in the Department of Computer Science with a proven track record of success. Fast Slow Motion hopes to “support future leaders in Birmingham” by identifying these rising tech stars and helping them alleviate some of the financial pressures they face.

“This scholarship demonstrates our dedication to the advancement of Birmingham’s technology ecosystem,” Burdett says. “Fast Slow Motion is pleased to partner with UAB to recognize exceptional computer science talent and encourage them to begin their careers here.”

Department of Computer Science professor and chair Yuliang Zheng, Ph.D., agrees that this support will be transformative. “This new scholarship means a lot to our students,” he says. “It will help attract more talented students into our programs to learn from world class experts who have state-of-the-art knowledge and skills in cyber security, machine learning, data science, and mobile computing, all of which are indispensable to the economic development of the region and the state. We are deeply grateful to Fast Slow Motion for their generous support.”

About Isabelle

Isabelle Brown is a sophomore with a 4.0 GPA. A native of Huntsville, she was so exceptional as a freshman that associate professor John Johnstone, Ph.D., identified her right away as someone who showed great promise.

“Isabelle was one of [my] truly special students, so I invited her to join a small research group this semester that includes my top four students,” Johnstone says. “She’s very motivated and is a gifted student with the perfect attitude to excel—patiently impatient to learn. This scholarship is perfectly fitted to encourage students like her.”

Brown says she was drawn to Computer Science for its flexibility. “The field is so diverse and will continue to be,” she says. “Computer science can be incorporated into almost any career and have an immense impact. It has a huge capacity for creativity and it allows me to be innovative and think outside the box to solve complex problems.”

With plans for graduate study in Computer Science, Brown says the Fast Slow Motion Endowed Scholarship will empower her to broaden her knowledge. “The Fast Slow Motion scholarship will allow me to take additional classes to further explore computer science ideas and topics. That will allow me to gain more skills to help both my future academic endeavors and my career goals.”

Burdett says great things are ahead for this first recipient. “We congratulate Isabelle for her achievement,” he says. “We’re looking forward to seeing her fulfill her potential.”

Kierstin Cates Kennedy, M.D., chief of UAB Hospital Medicine and clinical associate professor, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish at UAB. She says speaking more than one language has been incredibly beneficial, in her ability to both connect with patients and better understand their experience. Having learned as an adult, she says she understands how difficult it is to learn a second language after so many years of speaking only one, and how much effort it takes to master all of the quirks of another language.

“Imagine being in a country where you don’t speak the native language, or don’t speak it very well, and the discomfort that would bring,” Kennedy said. “Now imagine being sick, in the hospital and literally afraid for your life — you would want to communicate in your native language to be sure that you fully understand and that the care team fully understand you. I would imagine that our being able to speak Spanish helps bring a level of comfort to patients when they could use it most.”

Speaking English and Spanish has made her more marketable professionally because she has a skill that many other applicants may not. It has also allowed her to participate in mission work with a mentee, in the mentee’s home country of Nicaragua. Personally, she says it has given her an appreciation for other cultures that she did not have before her foreign language studies; it has also been incredibly helpful with travel out of the country, she says.

UAB Hospital offers dual-handset telephone consoles in patient care areas to reach interpreters, with access to 150 languages, which has been incredibly helpful in caring for patients during hospitalization. But there is still a need for robust resources in Spanish for post-discharge care and follow-up, Kennedy says.

“We also need more case managers and social workers who speak Spanish to help with care transitions,” Kennedy said.

Keep Reading: Need for professionals who speak a second language greater than ever

Learn how you can add language skills to your resume with the UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.