George James

Following in his parent’s footsteps, George James, a junior double majoring in mathematics and engineering, is a proud legacy of his alumni parents, Katrina and George, who just so happened to meet on campus in the late 90’s. CSU Pueblo was always the right choice from the small class sizes to the affordability factor. George said, “I had always been interested in STEM and the cost savings of staying at home and attending my parents’ university made total sense.” Not only is attending as a legacy student honoring his parent’s time as students, but Katrina recently passed away and he gets to honor her legacy on this earth by achieving academic excellence.
Receiving multiple scholarships, James stated that they impacted his academic journey, and it only truly came apparent when meeting his donors stating, “…going to a reception in my honor I realized how supported I truly was in meeting my needs and goals. I was inspired seeing everyone and it gave me the drive to keep pushing forward.”
Beginning as an engineering major, and adding the mathematics double major, James found beauty in numbers. The two degrees, though challenging in the classroom and making schedules line up, go hand-in-hand to support his goals of starting a tech business in an engineering field. The vision of working with technology came about during his time as the president of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) club. “I was able to present at the IEEE conference on artificial intelligence and we made a model that collects motion signals on a smart phone and was able to distinguish one person from another based on their movements,” said James. Beyond the classroom, IEEE gave James leadership skills that he never imagined he needed. “The club sort of fell into my lap and I was charged to keep the wheels turning. It has been tough, but I get to receive a lot of support from my mentors and strategic leadership to further my abilities,” said James. George hopes to, in the long-term, research and develop new technologies that will benefit humanity, specifically in the realm of artificial intelligence and nuclear fusion.
James credits his mentor, Dr. Stephen Aldrich, the department chair of math and physics, for supporting him in all his endeavors stating, “He is my number one guy, he’s got my back, and I am thankful to have him.” Within the Math and Physics department, George works for the Math Learning Center as a tutor. In his free time, he likes to hike 14ers.