Kester Nucum

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT KESTER NUCUM

Entering college, I wanted to pursue engineering, but I didn’t trust myself with building planes, trains, or bridges. I didn’t realize how dangerous electrical and computer engineering could actually be, but I truly love every second of it. I am a life-long learner who is passionate about using my talents and career to serve others and expressing myself through music and storytelling. My career goal is to become an innovative leader in research and development in signal processing and machine learning for radar and computer vision in defense, security, and intelligence applications. I grew up in a small town called Paris, not the one in France but the one in rural West Tennessee. I graduated from Tennessee Technological University with my Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering with minors in Music Performance (Violin) and Honors in May 2023. At Tennessee Tech, I was highly involved in numerous endeavors, including campus ministry, rural advocacy, engineering education research, and orchestra. I am pursuing a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Mississippi State University while also working as a Graduate Research Assistant under Dr. John Ball. Due to the proliferation of drones and the rise in drone-related incidents, my current research involves counter UAS systems and signal processing for drone detection. My thesis will be on data fusion of radar micro-Doppler and computer vision for drone vs. bird classification. At Mississippi State, I have continued pursuing my passions through serving in campus ministry, volunteering, and playing as a local musician.