Callie Reid Earns College of Science and Mathematics Excellence Award at VSU

Callie Reid

VALDOSTA — Callie Reid of Lakeland, Georgia, is the recipient of the Spring 2024 President’s Award for Academic Excellence for the College of Science and Mathematics at Valdosta State University.

The President’s Award for Academic Excellence is presented to a high-performing graduating student in each of VSU’s six colleges — Harley Langdale Jr. College of Business Administration, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, College of the Arts, James L. and Dorothy H. Dewar College of Education and Human Services, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and College of Science and Mathematics.

Reid will be recognized during VSU’s 237^th Commencement at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, on the Main Campus Front Lawn. She will graduate summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics, a Minor in Applied Statistics, and a Certificate in Data Science.

“Coming from a very small high school, the thought of attending a university can be overwhelming and intimidating,” she said. “I had always been a good student, but I worried about the transition from being a big fish in a small pond to where I would be in the big pond.

“During my time at VSU, I have been blessed with many great professors who invested their time in me and my education. I am grateful for each of them, especially, Dr. Jose Velez, professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Physics.

“This honor means a lot to me. There are many hard working, intelligent, and deserving students. I am extremely honored and humbled to be chosen to receive this award.”

As a student at VSU, Reid served as president of the Math Club and vice president of Pi Mu Epsilon and Alpha Chi: National College Honor Society. She volunteered at Northside Baptist Church as a member of the Audio-Visual Team and College Leadership Board, and she enjoyed an opportunity to help VSU identify updated recruitment and retention ideas.

Reid conducted significant research on unemployment rates in the United States during the global health crisis known as COVID-19 using topological data analysis and persistence theory. She presented her findings at the 2022 Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference, the 2023 Joint Mathematics Meeting, the 2023 VSU Undergraduate Research Symposium, and the 2023 Mathematical Association of America regional luncheon. She presented her research on predicting a mammal’s sleep based on the mammal’s weight at the 2023 VSU Undergraduate Research Symposium and shared the results of her machine learning analysis of unemployment rates in the U.S. at the 2024 Joint Mathematics Meeting and the 2024 VSU Undergraduate Research Symposium. Her research received financial support from the VSU College of Science and Mathematics, VSU Student Government Association, American Mathematical Society, and Pi Mu Epsilon.  

Reid’s commitment to academic, leadership, research, and service excellence resulted in her earning repeated Dean’s List recognitions, the Elizabeth Joy Lohmar Mathematics Scholarship, the South Georgia Alumni Chapter Scholarship, the 2024 Outstanding Mathematics Student Award, the 2024 College of Science and Mathematics Outstanding Student Award, and multiple first- and second-place honors at VSU’s 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics contests.   

Reid plans to continue her education in the fall and pursue a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Applied and Computational Mathematics at Florida State University, where she was awarded a teaching assistantship. She hopes to someday become a mathematics professor.

Her supportive family includes parents Lamar and Denise Reid and siblings Rena and Jacob Reid.