UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology will honor Schreyer Honors Scholar Erica Mi as student marshal at its fall 2022 commencement, which will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17. 

Mi will graduate magna cum laude with three degrees: a Bachelor of Science in information sciences and technology with a concentration in integration and application, a Bachelor of Arts in telecommunications and media industries, and a Master of Science in informatics, which she pursued through Penn State’s integrated undergraduate-graduate (IUG) program.  

Having grown up in State College, Mi had various opportunities to participate in Penn State youth programs that fostered her interest and deep understanding of technology. In sixth grade, she participated in “Girlz Digital World,” an initiative that advocated for women in STEAM at the Westgate Building, which is home to the College of IST.  

“As I progressed throughout middle school and high school, I felt like I was almost growing with the College of IST and had always kept my eye on the progression of the college; and I knew I was in the right spot when I took IST 110 with Dr. Alison Murphy,” said Mi, who found IST to be a combination of her interests — psychology, sociology, and computer graphics. “This combination was an interdisciplinary mix of everything that I ever wanted to do in college.” 

Mi earned a spot on the Dean's List in each of her semesters at Penn State while spearheading multiple extracurricular initiatives. She was the president of IST honor society Gamma Tau Phi, an instructor of a course through the Students Teaching Students program, a mentor in Women in IST, an IST Diplomat, a learning assistant, and an undergraduate researcher. She has also received numerous awards and honors, including the Schreyer Honors Academic Excellence Scholarship, the Honora and William Jaffe Scholarship, the Schreyer Honors Blake and Linda Scholarship, the John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy, the Summer Success Scholarship, and the Student Engagement Network Remote Innovation Grant.

As a Schreyer Honors Scholar, Mi’s thesis explored immersive reality and its capabilities under the guidance of her adviser Fred Fonseca, associate professor of information sciences and technology, for whom she has been a learning assistant since fall 2020.  

“I am grateful for Fred as he gave me the creative liberty to work on topics that interested me and encouraged me to play to my strengths, while guiding me throughout the thesis writing process. I couldn't ask for a more supportive advisor, mentor, and friend,” she said. 

Mi had the opportunity to apply skills learned in the classroom directly in real-world settings through the College of IST’s required internship program. She ultimately completed four internships during her time at Penn State, with Johnson & Johnson, Novaris Consulting, IBM, and EY-Parthenon. She will continue a career in consulting with EY-Parthenon in their Deal Technology practice after graduation. 

As Mi looks to her future, she is thankful for the experiences she’s had and the connections she’s made at the College of IST.  

“Not a lot of students realize the faculty within the college have an incredible amount of experience under their belt,” she said. “It’s eye-opening to see how much extensive experience every faculty member I’ve talked to within the college has, whether that’s industry experiences, research experiences, or just life experiences.” 

She concluded, “If I were to give advice to my younger self, I would tell myself to embrace the discomfort and take risks that excite you — there is so much more out there than you know.”