AT just 25 years old, Malik Williams is set to graduate in May from Indiana University , Bloomington, with a Master’s degree in Data Science, applied to cybersecurity, earned through the prestigious Fulbright Foreign Student Programme.
Williams, a 2024 Fulbright Scholar, is no stranger to Guyana’s technology and innovation space, with his name already attached to several impactful initiatives spanning education, cybersecurity and environmental protection.
In 2020, Williams, alongside four other young Guyanese, co-created Unity.GY, a donor-driven platform aimed at promoting youth development across Guyana.
Two years later, in 2022, he teamed up with his brother Shomari Williams, Andrew Garnett and Jung Leung to form a quartet known as FramePerfect. Their Webby-backed project, designed to combat illegal logging in Guyana’s forests, won the 2022 5G for Change Hackathon, earning the team a Webby Award.
Williams, Shomari Williams and Andrew Garnett would later go on to co-found FramePerfect as a growing Guyanese technology company.
Before embarking on the Fulbright journey, Williams’ professional path began in education. His first job was as a teacher, travelling to Linden, Essequibo and other communities to teach children how to code. He later served as an ICT Engineer at the University of Guyana, before moving into industry as an Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Engineer at ExxonMobil Guyana.
Explaining his choice of graduate programme, Williams said he deliberately selected a path that merged data science and cybersecurity.
“So, I figured that the best thing for me to do would be to put myself in a position where I’m doing both. So that when I come back home, I could decide if I want to continue in cybersecurity or if I want to, you know, continue the only part of teaching,” he said.
Teaching, he explained, has always been central to his identity.
“I used to teach since I was way, way younger, because back in my old community, Agricola, my older sister used to teach children how to read and stuff like that. So, I started helping her out with that. And I wanted to be a teacher since I was young,” Williams said.
He added that this passion continued throughout his academic life.
“Then I grew up, started computer science, mainly started teaching computer science. I taught in the university too, when I was there as a student and a little bit after I left, because it was always the plan to become a lecturer,” he said.
Williams said his decision to apply for the Fulbright Scholarship was driven by encouragement from a close friend, Norwell, who repeatedly urged him to submit an application. While hopeful, he acknowledged the competitive nature of the programme.
His time at Indiana University proved highly productive. Williams was selected for the 2025 Summer Intern Cohort of IU Innovates, a sponsored 10-week programme that supports student-led innovation and entrepreneurship.
The programme allowed him to continue developing FramePerfect, while contributing to projects aimed at strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems in the United States. Williams said he helped design data-collection tools to track the growth of local entrepreneurs, ensuring targeted support where it was most needed.
“What they were trying to do was for all of the different entrepreneurs that came in, they were trying to track their progress as closely as they could possibly track it so that they know where the bottlenecks, where are people getting stuck, where are the biggest issues that people are having,” he explained.
He noted that IU Innovates is heavily donor supported and focused on demonstrating measurable impact.
“What they really wanted to do was show how they’re actually creating an impact in terms of the student entrepreneurs that come through there,” Williams said.
The scholar stated that one of his biggest take-aways is the power of networking and socialising to achieve a goal. He referenced experiences that pushed him to break out of his shell and converse with a random person, and where it would take you.
While he didn’t give specifics, Williams said he does intend to continue teaching, whether it’s through FramePerfect, or taking a more hands-on approach at the tertiary level.
“I’m for sure going to continue working on more technology projects because I like doing those and maybe continue my career in cybersecurity,” he disclosed.
In Guyana, the Fulbright Foreign Student Program is administered by the US Embassy. The embassy re-launched the Fulbright Foreign Student Program in 2019. The scholarship gives Guyanese citizens the opportunity to complete a Master’s or PhD. at a higher-education institution in the United States.
