Tribute to the Late Alberta Ama Oduraa Quartey – Ph.D. Student in Electrical Engineering From: Dr. Moses T. Adoko, Chief Knowledge Officer NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA Mentor of the Late Ms. Alberta Oduraa Quartey.
Family and Friends of the Late Alberta Ama Oduraa Quartey, I am tasked with writing a tribute for a wonderful human being. She was my mentee, and I was her engineering and professional mentor. But she became “my daughter” very quickly after a few interactions and engagements because of her positive disposition, intellect, maturity and ability to learn. She was brilliant, determined and driven with a sense of humor and a childish laughter that is rare in our world today. Our mentoring and “daughter-father” relationship deepened after mutually discovering our common ancestral link to her last name – Quartey.
And so, I have come to mourn one of my own through this tribute. I have come to mourn a wonderful daughter, sister, friend, confidant and a niece. I am struggling to find words of tribute to honor one of my own, a young 23 years old, beautiful soul with a unique talent for conceptualizing complex systems and working on groundbreaking Ph.D. research in microwave engineering.
It is so painful to describe her in past tense. I have refused to do so. SHE LIVES in our hearts and memories. She lives through the lives that she influenced. She lives because her memory brings pleasant memories to others. She lives because her short life has demonstrated to all that life is about how well you live and how many people you impact positively. She lives because her cutting-edge research in microwave engineering and sensors will improve lives on planet Earth.
Oduraa is a WINNER!!! And so, she lives. Oduraa, wherever you are in the vast universe of existence, we have missed you.
Alberta Ama Oduraa Quartey.
Yaawɔ Ojogbaa.
Nante yie.
Rest in Perfect Peace, my brilliant mentee.