A Coruña, August 7, 2024.– Ana Xiang Ning Pereira Ezquerro, a young researcher at the Center for Research in Information and Communication Technologies of the University of A Coruña (CITIC), has been one of the 106 Galician university students awarded the End of Degree Prizes by the Xunta this 2024. At 23 years old, Pereira Ezquerro has been recognized for her outstanding academic record, which includes fifteen honors, and stands out as one of the best graduates of the first class of the Data Engineering Degree at the University of A Coruña.

Currently, Ana Xiang Ning is pursuing a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence and combines her studies with her work as a researcher, focusing on developing advanced algorithms to interpret and process text written by people, a task that goes beyond traditional mathematical models and requires techniques adapted to human reasoning.

In her own words, Pereira Ezquerro explains the importance of her field: “There is an increasing amount of data to process, and automating the processing is crucial to extract valuable information that can guide business decision-making or detect potential dangers. My career is based on processing large volumes of data and generating predictive models that, for example, can estimate a company’s future sales”.

The Xunta’s End of Degree Prize, which recognizes the best academic records of the year, awards each winner a financial contribution of 3,500 euros and a certificate. This year, a total of 106 university students have been awarded for their academic excellence, 62% of whom are women. Of these prizes, 19 have been awarded to students from the University of A Coruña, excelling in various degrees such as Computer Engineering and Law.

Ana Xiang Ning, who has combined her brilliant academic career with work and professional practice, mentions that her dedication to study has been intense: “In the last year of the degree, the combination of classes, internships, and work on the final project led me to dedicate almost all day to my studies. It is a sacrifice, but my passion for data engineering has driven me to keep going”.