How a student of National Technical University of Athens won a place on Google
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How a student of National Technical University of Athens won a place on Google

Maria Dimakopoulou received Google’s Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship promoting excellence in computer science and technology. In December 2014, she will start working at Google’s advertizing systems in New York. During her studies at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Maria managed to solve a computing problem that had troubled computer engineers for years.

During her third year of IT studies at NTUA, she joined an international team of algorithm researchers to work with Google, in Paris. The program lasted from July 2013 to November 2013 and she showed her genius by solving a problem that had troubled Google and Intel engineers for many years. As a reward she received awards by both companies.

“Someone doesn’t just go to Google and suddenly become smart. I had very dynamic professors with the desire to be exceptional in the field internationally. The quality of the lessons and the offered training were for me decisive to what I attained,” she stated.

Following her success in 2012, she was invited to speak at a CERN conference and last year she visited Silicon Valley to participate in a joint program by NASA and Google, regarding artificial intelligence and nano technology.

“I wouldn’t have swapped my studies with some other university abroad. When I first got into the University top of my year, I had been told that I could go to any university I wanted. It was a conscious choice to stay here and that course of action has been vindicated. It is an exceptional school if you have the desire to advance” she added.

She has already received the following awards:

  • June 2014: Google Anita Borg Scholaship for demonstrating excellence in computing and technology, outstanding academic achievement, leadership and community involvement.
  • March 2014: Intel Honorary Award in recognition for the creativity and drive in modifying the Linux perf package to improve the accuracy of the Performance Monitoring Unit in Intel processors generations code-named Sandybridge – Haswell.
  • November 2013: Google Spot Bonus Excellence Award φορ management for multiple optimization accomplishments and an outstanding 2013 internship in the Operations Research & Optimization team.
  • October 2013: Google Peer Bonus Honorary Award for helping in an outreach event promoting careers in engineering to women at high-school level
  • 2011, 2012, 2013 & 2014: «Thomaidion» Honorary Award National Technical University of Athens for excellence in academic performance awarded to the best student in NTUA
  • 2011, 2012, 2013 & 2014: “Karidogiannis” Honorary Award National Technical University of Athens for excellence in academic performance awarded to the best student in Electrical & Computer Engineering School, NTUA
  •  2011: “Agoniston Polytechneiou” Honorary Award National Technical University of Athens for being ranked nationwide 1st in entering Electrical & Computer Engineering School, NTUA
  • 2011: P. Triantafyllidis Scholarship P. Triantafyllidis Bequest Fund, Ministry of Finance & Ministry of Education
  • 2010: «Great Moment for Education» Honorary Award

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