Jan 30, 2012 - Claremont, Calif. -

Presidents Scholar Obosa Obazuaye ’14 of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., won the first-place award in the 2011 BrainTrack Computer Science Scholarship program.

The scholarship is awarded twice a year to students pursuing a computer science degree. It’s designed to help current students pay for their education, while helping others evaluate computer science as a potential academic and career path.

Applicants respond to essay questions geared toward sharing the wisdom gained from their experience pursuing the subject.

“[The scholarship program] provides those considering computer science and information technology careers with helpful perspectives from real students," said David Siegel, vice president of operations with BrainTrack's publisher, Futuremeld, LLC. "Obosa’s essay offered creative and helpful guidance for current and future computer science students."

Obazuaye received the $1,000 first-place award for his responses, including advice on developing mental dexterity.

“Computer science students should try as often as possible to work on solving various types of problem-solving exercises, whether they are coding exercises or just simple brain-teasers,” Obazuaye wrote. “The best computer scientists are those who rely more on the processing power of the mind than that of a computer; they let the computer do all the hard computing work, but they use their brains to figure out the most elegant solutions to a given problem.”

Obazuaye’s essay can be read here.