Mercy Akinyemi has accepted a full-time position with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
She earned the role after two competitive summer internships at the technology giant’s Menlo Park, California, offices, where she gained hands-on experience developing software for products used around the world.
She is a computer science student at Alabama A&M University in the United States and hails from Ogun State, Nigeria. Her achievement reflects years of academic preparation, undergraduate research and a growing passion for artificial intelligence and robotics development. 
From Ogun State to Silicon Valley: How Two Summer Internships Led to a Job at Meta
Nigerian tech talent Mercy Akinyemi is making remarkable strides in the global technology industry. She will graduate in May 2027. Two consecutive summer internships at Meta, in 2025 and 2026, earned her the opportunity, and she worked with engineering teams throughout both.
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A Presidential Scholar with a Perfect 4.0 GPA and a Research Paper on Self-Driving Cars
Beyond her industry experience, Akinyemi is a Presidential Scholar with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a full scholarship. She also does cutting-edge research on artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous vehicles, exploring technologies that could shape the future of transportation.
The 2026 IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference accepted her research paper on sensor fusion architecture in self-driving cars, and she presented her work there.
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Building a Multi-Vehicle Autonomous Driving System with Quanser QCar Research Vehicles
Akinyemi is developing a multi-vehicle autonomous driving system using Quanser QCar research vehicles. These are scaled robotics cars with sensors and onboard computing capabilities.
What Comes Next: A June 2027 Start at Meta’s San Francisco Bay Area Office
Akinyemi will begin her new role at Meta’s San Francisco Bay Area office in June 2027. It marks another milestone for a Nigerian talent making her mark on the global stage.
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