Talented Avery Barnett off to Princeton for PHD studies
AVERY Barnett has lived a life of excellence, and though just 21 years old, she is adding more accolades to her name as she prepares to start her PHD studies at Princeton University this fall.
Barnett, the daughter of Dr Janine Dawkins and National Water Commission President Mark Barnett, told Career & Education that from a young age she has been detail-oriented, determined, slightly competitive and collaborative — traits she believes helped her chart a course of excellence.
With this grit, Barnett bagged 19 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects while at Immaculate Conception High and also managed to secure an IGCSE (O’ level), four GCE A/S levels, and two GCE A’ levels.
During this time, Barnett had her sights set on becoming an orthopaedic surgeon, but in the summer of 2016 she was one of 19 teens from across the Caribbean who participated in the four-week Summer Programme in Innovation, Science, and Engineering (SPISE) at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill campus in Barbados, which piqued her interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
SPISE patterns a similar programme at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is designed to increase the number of Caribbean people represented in the worldwide STEM field.
“At this programme I realised medicine was not for me. I would have gone through the programme and probably been OK academically but hate every second of it. At SPISE we were able to build the blades of a wind turbine. We were trying to build the blades, make them the most efficient and I found that fun and it made me realise I was more interested in energy,” Barnett said.
Barnett then moved on to Grinnell College in Iowa, USA where she pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Physics with concentrations in technology studies and environmental studies.
In 2019, she was a summer intern at Emera in Barbados where she had experience in the generation, distribution and asset management departments and her interest in energy and sustainable technologies was further cemented.
“I did an internship at Emera Caribbean Limited in Barbados, where I was rotated around the Barbados Light & Power Company and seeing the different components of how electricity is distributed and maintained across the island, I fully understood I didn’t want to be working on machinery or making anything,” she told Career & Education. “I was more interested in understanding how energy technologies were implemented in the society and I realised there were some inconsistencies between what was possible from the perspectives of the electric company and what was possible from what the Government wanted to do. I thought that would be my niche in the future to be a boundary spanner between government and private/public institutions to ensure that the policies are in place and the provisions are made to carry out the work.”
While at Grinnell, Barnett was CIMES (Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System) student intern at Princeton University where she validated WAVEWATCH III simulations under hurricanes in shallow and deep water. Her student involvement included being a co-founder of the Black Students in STEM Society, which provided more inclusive and safe spaces for black students in the sciences at Grinnell.
Barnett was also part of the African and Caribbean Students’ Union, Harp Ensemble and Steel Pan Ensemble. She was also a student representative on several committees to include the Wilson Centre Committee for Innovation and Leadership, the Admissions and Student Financial Aid Committee, the Working Group for Diversity and Inclusion in the Sciences, plus an intern in inter-cultural affairs and a physics mentor.
Further, Barnett has attended 13 conferences during her time at Grinnell, the most memorable being the very first — the 2017 National Society of Black Physicists Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Also of note are the World Bank Group Youth Summit and the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum.
She also received the Marie Nesbitt Promise Prize, which is presented to a second/ third-year student of African descent for academic excellence, leadership potential, and willingness to participate in community outreach; Best Overall Performance in CSEC (2017) - 1st from the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools and the Sister Maureen Clare Award from Immaculate Conception High School in Jamaica.
Barnett is also the co-founder of Akaisiba, a start-up seasonal non-profit organisation that raised money for various purposes through the sale of baked goods and other commodities. Products can be viewed at Akaisiba.com.
Now prepared to start her PHD studies in public affairs science, technology and environmental policy at Princeton, Barnett is ready to go all in.
“The sky is not the limit. I don’t think there are any limits to what I can do. I feel like if I put my mind to it I can achieve it, maybe not immediately, but over time. I like to challenge when people tell me I cannot do something,” Barnett said.