About Makya Stell
I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I graduated from Edmond Santa Fe High School on May 13, 2017. Directly following my graduation, I completed an internship with OU Family Medicine through OU's Future Health Scientist Partnership Program (OUFHSPP). After successfully completing my internship, I attended the AT&T Summer Bridge Program, where I was introduced to different engineering opportunities, professionals and fields.
Currently, I am pursuing a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering with a minor in Military Science at the University of Oklahoma. I am involved in the Army's Reserve Officer Training Corps (AROTC) program, where I learn leadership skills and troop-leading methodologies. Upon successfully completing the AROTC Program, I will commission into the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant. I am also an SMP Cadet in the Oklahoma Army National Guard's (OKARNG) 205th Signal Company. In my unit, I served as the Maintenance Officer for six months until I was reassigned as the Command Maintenance Discipline Program (CMDP) Coordinator. On August 23, 2020, my company awarded me with the Army Achievement Medal for my continuous efforts to develop and maintain the CMDP standards during our Annual Training in 2020 in an effort to improve the unit's maintenance posture. I am also 1 of 10 individuals in the entire OKARNG who is trained to fully employ the Blue Sky Net Mast.
I am also involved with the University of Oklahoma's National Society of Black Engineers (OU NSBE) where I served on the Pre-Collegiate Initiative (PCI) Committee. NSBE's PCI Program strives to introduce young adults to a college environment in an effort to ensure they successfully pursue an engineering degree at their desired institution.
I currently work with the University of Oklahoma's Data Analytics Lab (OUDAL) under the direction of Jasmine DeHart and Christan Grant, Ph.D. Within the OUDAL, I am currently working as an undergraduate research assistant on the Visual Inspection of Personal Exposed Records (VIPER) Project. VIPER allows me to explore Cyber Security, Privacy Leaks within Social Media Platforms, Machine Learning, Human-Computer Interaction, and Web Crawling (Web Scraping). On January 21, 2020, I officially published my first publication entitled 'Social Media and the Scourge of Visual Privacy.' I was accepted to be an Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (OK-LSAMP) Scholar because of my shown dedication to my work in the OUDAL. Through OK-LSAMP, I submitted my poster entitled 'Analysis of Visual Privacy Leaks on Twitter' to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2020. I also recently presented at the OK-LSAMP Research Symposium virtually.
I was initiated into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in the Fall of 2020. Since my initiation into the Kappa Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., I have served as the chapter's treasurer and as the liaison of our event, "Let's M.E.E.T. (Mentor, Empower, and Explore Technology). I am also currently serving as the 2020 - 2021 National Pan-Hellenic Council President at the University of Oklahoma. So far, we have successfully programmed four events and one community service event, but we definitely have more to come.
On August 6, 2019, I became the official CEO/Founder of Modification Application & Systems. Modification Application & Systems is a web development company that strives to provide clients with affordable website options that will allow them to advertise their business and/or cause successfully. My company focuses on helping incarcerated authors find an affordable yet quality outlet to become successful business owners. Since its founding, I have helped over 200 clients successfully modify, build, and maintain websites. For more information about my web development company, please visit https://mascorp.webnode.com.
Research Focuses: Cyber Security, Privacy Leaks, Machine Learning, Human-Computer Interaction, Social Media.
For More Information Visit:
https://oudalab.github.io/ https://jasminedehart.com/ https://www.christangrant.com/ https://www.ou.edu/coe/cs