A Mississippi State doctoral student from Prentiss simultaneously received two national engineering-related honors in January.

Williams

Sabrina E. Williams is the National Society of Black Engineers' 1999 Graduate Student of the Year. She also received the Student Leadership Award of the Career Communication Group, coordinator of the annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference.

The first honor annually recognizes an outstanding African-American engineer, scientist, or technologist. The second honors high achievements by a college student.

After graduating from Prentiss High School in 1988, Williams went on to complete a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La.

For three years after leaving Southern, she worked in the poultry industry, where her duties often focused on safety training. As a result, she developed an interest in ergonomics-the study of how humans interact with other systems, especially their work environments.

At Mississippi State-where she earlier received a master's degree-Williams is involved in research with workplace designs for aging workers.