Jack Kent Cooke Semifinalist Wants to Develop Helpful Robots

Eight students from Georgia State University’s Perimeter College have been named semifinalists for the 2024 Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The Jack Kent Cooke award is a competitive scholarship for the nation’s top two-year college students. It provides recipients with up to $55,000 per year, placing the scholarship among the largest private awards in the country for community college transfer students. The semifinalists, all Perimeter Honors College students working toward their associate degrees, are among 459 individuals selected from more than 1,600 applicants attending 194 community colleges in 37 states, plus Washington, DC, and the Northern Mariana Islands The following is one of the student profiles.

CLARKSTON, Ga.—If you’re on Perimeter College’s Clarkston Campus, you’ll likely run into the always smiling Min Khant Zaw in one of the college's science labs.

As president of the Clarkston Computing Science and Engineering Club (CLACEC), the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Scholarship semifinalist has galvanized the once declining club into a dynamic organization by attracting more than 100 new members and hosting multiple events, including the annual Cardboard Boat Regatta, where students build and race cardboard boats in the school's swimming pool. This year, even the college dean participated in the regatta.

Zaw is a tutor in the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) lab and a Supplemental Instruction leader for the Engineering Graphics & Design 1 course, leader in an American Society of Naval Engineers electrical boat competition, a Chevron scholar and a Perimeter College Alumni Association scholar. He’s even a published writer, with two short stories published in the 2023 and 2024 issues of the Perimeter College student publication magazine, Creative License.

In March, Zaw was honored during the STAR awards, receiving both the top engineering student award and the Dean’s Award, as well as the Club of the Year award for his involvement in CLACEC.

Zaw became interested in robotics as a middle school student, when he first saw the Disney movie, “Big Hero 6.”  That interest blossomed into a full-fledged desire to help others by designing ‘help mate’ health care robots and give back to his native country in southeast Asia.

Since his acceptance at Perimeter, Zaw has not wasted any opportunity to get involved.

“When I came here from Myanmar, it was the first time I was out of the country, and the first time I traveled all by myself,” Zaw said, noting that he has been living with a host family since enrolling at the college.

At Perimeter, he quickly became immersed in both academic and STEM pursuits.

Zaw said he chose Perimeter College for its low cost and its Regents Engineering Pathway (REP) program.

“With a military coup in my country and high inflation rates, there were not many opportunities to further my education,” he said.

“I researched schools that were good for robotics and found Perimeter’s REP program.”

As a Perimeter College – Undergraduate Research Experience (PCURE) researcher, Zaw worked with fellow teammate (and JKC semifinalist) Haneen Ahmed to build an autonomous fertilizing robot. They presented their research at Perimeter College’s Math Engineering and Computer Science (MECS) conference in February and the Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference in April.

Zaw ultimately wants to take his knowledge back to his homeland to establish a robotics company and start a school offering free education for students who may otherwise not have the resources.

The Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship would move him closer to that dream.

“Getting the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship would mean a lot to me,” he said.

“As an out-of-state student, it would be difficult to continue my education here without financial help.”

Zaw hopes to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Stanford University to continue his studies in robotics.

The Cooke Foundation will announce the scholarship winners this month.

Story by Rebecca Rakoczy

Photo by Bill Roa