Makenzie Jones
Hyde Park, Utah
Class Of: 2013

Campus: Old Westbury
Major: Mechanical Engineering, B.S.

When junior Makenzie Jones arrived in Old Westbury this fall, she knew her life was changing in a big way. She had flown into New York on a red-eye from Utah and arrived on campus alone without knowing anyone.

"It was a little scary," says Jones, who transferred to NYIT from Hesston College in Kansas. "I came from a sheltered, religious farming community, so it's a different area and lifestyle from New York."

Jones has wasted little time getting to know her surroundings. She is a catcher for the women's softball team and recently won the Astoria Federal Laptop Competition for her video encouraging women to enter the engineering and computing science fields.

"I like math and science, and I love problem-solving, puzzles, and design," Jones says. "Mechanical engineering combines all of these things."

Her goal is a career in alternative energy. This past summer, she interned in the bioengineering department of Utah State University, and researched the use of algae to clean up wastewater by converting it into biodiesel fuel and medicine.

"It was cool to see how you can take something that negatively affects our communities and turn it into something positive," Jones says.

Softball Profile

Member of: Softball

AT HESSTON COLLEGE: Played softball for two years ... named an academic All-American.

AT SKY VIEW HS: A 2009 graduate … played softball for three years as a catcher ... earned the school's top-scholar and Art Sterling Scholar awards ... named to the academic softball all-state team ... also lettered three years in swimming and one in volleyball.

PERSONAL: Daughter of Judy and Shane … enjoys art ... volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters ... majoring in mechanical engineering.