Student Spotlight: Christian Zamiela

Christian Zamiela has always had a passion for soccer. And though he grew up in Stuart, Florida playing along with his two sisters, it was his love of soccer that ultimately brought him to Mississippi.

Zamiela spent his undergraduate years at Millsaps College where he also played college soccer. A center back, Zamiela enjoyed being a student-athlete, in part because of the discipline he learned.

“I really enjoyed taking time away from my studies and having something to engage in,” Zamiela said. “Soccer was my passion growing up, and still is to this day."

At Millsaps, Zamiela was in the pre-engineering program and double majored in applied mathematics and business administration. Zamiela knew he wanted to attend graduate school and he chose Mississippi State largely because of the Bagley College of Engineering.

“I had a few connections here, after four years at Millsaps. It was between here and a few Florida schools, but I was personally really interested in Mississippi State’s engineering program,” Zamiela said.

Zamiela initially came to State for the master’s program in industrial engineering and is now currently working on his Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering.

“I got really interested in industrial engineering because it bridged the gap between doing something like mechanical or electrical engineering and a computer-related subject, like programming that I really enjoyed,” Zamiela said.

Through the industrial engineering program, Zamiela has enjoyed learning and researching about machine learning. He is researching quality control in additive manufacturing using machine learning. The research applies machine learning models to improve the quality of three-dimensional printed parts and help improve the printing process.

“I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the machine learning classes provided by Dr. Tian and Dr. Marufuzzaman,” Zamiela said. “They provided both theoretical knowledge and application knowledge in machine learning and we’ve done a lot of projects to implement these that have really helped me develop the skill and a further understanding of the subjects.”

Zamiela, who is on track to graduate in 2023, hopes to continue researching additive manufacturing and work with different printing processes. Machine learning is rapidly developing and Zamiela wants to take the skills he has learned at Mississippi State and apply them to his future research.

“The biggest lessons are the skills and theoretical knowledge that I’ve learned with my time here,” Zamiela said. “And not focusing as much on quantity of how much work you do, it is more about the quality and showing we’ve really made a difference in this, in the fields of which I work.”

Zamiela has also found his place outside of academics, thanks in large part to his love of soccer. Supporting Division 1 athletics has been a highlight of his Mississippi State experience and he continues to support soccer within the Starkville community. Zamiela is a soccer coach at the Starkville Sportsplex with the Starkville Section of Tupelo Football Club.

“I’ve been able to get involved with coaching soccer, which I’ve really enjoyed," Zamiela said. "I didn’t expect to be a coach but I’m glad I was able to find it and stay with the sport.”

The Bagley College of Engineering is online at www.bagley.msstate.edu and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at @msuengineering.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.

By Emily Cambre