The Office of Student Research is proud to feature Dionna Charity in this week’s “Scholar Story”.

Dionna Charity is a senior at Longwood University and is also a member of the Cormier Honors College for Citizen Scholars. Dionna is majoring in Computer Science and she also has a minor in Cybersecurity, Forensics, and Policy. In summer 2022, Dionna participated in Longwood’s PRISM summer research program. She worked with her faculty mentor, Dr. Julian Dymacek, to create a computer program to classify birds using their nocturnal flight calls. Her method used pattern recognition on a training and testing set of the BirdVox dataset. Dionna became involved in independent research because she wanted to “be a part of a realistic project that could be helpful to those who need these tools.”

During the research process Dionna says she enjoyed learning “how those in the industry work and communicate as a group.”

One of the most important skills Dionna learned by conducting independent research was to be “patient and willing to try new methods if your current one is not working.”

After graduation, Dionna plans to become a software developer.

Congratulations to Dionna on her successful research!

If you would like to have your research featured in a “Scholar Story”, or if you would like to learn more about getting involved in research at Longwood University, please visit Longwood’s Office of Student Research website http://www.longwood.edu/office-of-student-research/

or contact Amorette Barber, Director of the Office of Student Research (osr@longwood.edu or barberar@longwood.edu)