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Christina Leber is driven by finding solutions to problems and that is how she wound up a Computer Science major.  Her interest in problem-solving has resulted in an incredible experience at UNH from the very beginning and has lead to a job waiting for her when she graduates working in an MIT lab for the Department of Defense.

Christina came to UNH from a small town in Vermont.  She had been introduced to UNH through her participation in the Summer Youth Music School.  Originally, UNH was meant to be a safety school for Christina.  She was sure she would go to a small Liberal Arts college, but for some reason when it came time to make a decision, UNH stuck out. Christina is very happy with her decision.  Since arriving at UNH, Christina’s life has had two major influences: music and computers.

From the very beginning of her time at UNH, Christina has been a member of several music groups, most notably the Marching Band and the Pep Band.  Of course playing just one instrument is not enough for Christina so she plays the clarinet in the Marching and Symphonic bands and the saxophone in the Pep band.  Playing in the bands has provided an opportunity to go to all the UNH football games and many hockey games.  Christina even had a chance to travel with the UNH teams when they made the playoffs.  While in the band Christina was recognized not only for her talents but also for her leadership abilities.  From very early on Prof. Svanoe (marching band director) saw something in Christina which was rewarded with growing responsibilities ultimately culminating in becoming one of two drum majors.  In her senior year Christina led the marching band onto the field and provided great entertainment to all the fans at every game.

Besides her extra-curricular involvement in band at UNH, Christina has managed to major in Computer Science and minor in History.  The way she tells it, Christina wound up a computer science major accidentally.  It has worked out better than most accidents.  As a computer science major, Christina caught the eye of Profs. Hatcher and Housner. They both encouraged her to pursue a UROP involving the coding of an R-Tree, which is a data structure used to store graphics images.  Her success with this project led to an internship at the very prestigious MIT Lincoln Labs in Lexington, MA.  Christina continues to make the drive to Lexington a few times a week while maintaining a full course load and all her musical responsibilities. 

In addition to computer science and music, Christina has a personal interest in history.  Because her schedule is so full during the regular school year, Christina dedicated an entire summer to study abroad in England.  While there she studied English history and literature. 

When Christina graduates in the spring, she will start full-time work at Lincoln Labs.  She will have earned memberships in national computer science honor societies and professional organizations, become a leader, a lover of music and most importantly she will have made great decisions about what to do with the “time given her” at UNH.
 
Christina admits she came to college having decided to “not be limited by who she was in high school” and this is the advice she would pass on to anyone starting out at UNH.  Clearly, there is nothing limiting Christina Leber. 

“Students are the focus of everything we do.”