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New 2019-20 Class Named for C Spire Fellowship Program at Nokia Bell Labs

2019-10-10

Two students at prominent Mississippi university selected for prestigious technology recognition

Ridgeland, Miss. - (October 10, 2019) – Two college students from one of Mississippi’s leading universities have been chosen to participate in a C Spire technology fellowship program at Nokia Bell Labs, the world-renowned research organization in information technology and communications.

The C Spire Fellowship Program offers college juniors and seniors majoring in computer science and electrical or computer engineering at the University of Mississippi or Mississippi State University an opportunity to conduct relevant industry research alongside some of the world’s leading scientists, engineers and technologists at Nokia Bell Labs in New Jersey.

Ole Miss senior Henry Lena and junior Jack Mazza were chosen for the 2019-2020 program from among 43 applicants for the fellowship. Students must maintain a 3.0 grade point average and have an interest in working in a related technology field after graduation.

Lena, of Oxford, Mississippi, is majoring in electrical engineering and Mazza, a St. Louis, Missouri native, is a computer science major who interned at C Spire this summer and has two more years of college. Lena is focusing his studies on network access while Mazza is concentrating on computer network security.

“These students are some of our best and brightest and represent future leaders in our industry,” said C Spire CTO Carla Lewis. “This fellowship program allows them to hone their academic and research skills by working on projects that will make a difference.”

The Mississippi-based diversified telecommunications and technology services company has long supported academic excellence in colleges and universities, but in recent years has focused on working with educators, schools and community-based training efforts to help students and learners turn their education and training into a professional career.

C Spire has a passion for technology innovation and agreed several years ago to develop a fellowship program that is tailored to the specific needs of the future workforce in the southeastern U.S. “It’s a great way to get exposed to the future of technology, work with some of the most innovative technologists in the world and use these advanced technologies to better serve our customer’s needs,” Lewis said.

Rapid progress in the development of a 21st century workforce is a key part of the C Spire Tech Movement, which is also designed to help move the region forward through improvements in broadband access and technology innovation. For more information about the C Spire Tech Movement, visit www.cspire.com/techmvmt.

About C Spire
C Spire provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data, cloud and managed services for businesses. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.