STEM Career Exploration High School Fellowships Program Expands Dramatically in Number of Students, Locations
73 students selected from 22 schools in Maryland and Washington, DC
The Sandra Lee Heyman Foundation today announced that a record number of students have been selected to participate in a fellowship program that enables them to explore careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
The 73 new students in this seventh class of fellows are from 22 high schools in Montgomery County, Charles County (first time), Baltimore County (first time), and Baltimore City in Maryland as well as from Washington, D.C. That includes multiple schools represented for the first time by students in the program. Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville claims the largest number of fellows, with 15. Sandra Heyman led the mathematics faculty at the school until she passed away in 1998.
The new class is a demographically diverse group of sophomores who now join 172 students from six prior classes since the program launched in 2020. They will meet with STEM professionals from around the country over the next three semesters to gain insights and exposure to a variety of fields. The students get close-up views of careers in which STEM education is a solid foundation – ranging from laboratory researchers and those in “traditional” science and engineering careers to others who use their STEM backgrounds in business and finance, communications, arts and entertainment, and more. These professionals share their personal experiences and offer candid advice to fellows in a discussion format.
The fellows are students who enjoy STEM and are curious to learn more about exciting potential careers in these areas. They range from those who already aim to pursue a STEM career based on their previous participation in a variety of STEM activities – although most have not yet identified a specialty – to those who are only beginning to consider the possibility of STEM-based higher education and careers and who have not yet had much STEM exposure outside of their classrooms.
Previously, the sixth class had been the largest with a cadre of 49 fellows.
The seventh class of fellows and their schools are:
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Baltimore City)
Edalia Campbell
Ella Franklin
Evan Mosier
Ky Nicholson
Payton Saunders
Bridgette Story
Clarksburg High School (Clarksburg)
Aaron Silveira
Colonel Zadok Magruder High School (Rockville)
Aiden Cotter
Covenant Life School (Gaithersburg)
Micah Chen
Gaithersburg High School (Gaithersburg)
Ama Bolton
German International School (Washington D.C.)
Sophia Akhardid
James Hubert Blake High School (Colesville)
Anika Paranjape
Montgomery Blair High School (Silver Spring)
Samip Acharya
Aislin Deng
Kiran Oliver
Lana Ulrich
Deborah Zhu
New Town High School (Owings Mills)
Kourtney Loyal
North Point High School (Bennsville)
Abigail Álvarez Flores
Northwest High School (Germantown)
Hana Savvas Mohamed
Poolesville High School (Poolesville)
Charan Abburu
Nancy Ansah
Aarav Bhatt
Aditya Buddan Ramesh
Vicky Dasari
Meesha Gilani
Grace Lin
Vinutha Madala
Hargun Malhotra
Aryush Meka
Kul Sandhu
Zoe Seah
Aditi Thakur
Kuzey Turan
Quince Orchard High School (Gaithersburg)
Nina Podlesny
Richard Montgomery High School (Rockville)
Alona Aharonovich
Juveria Asad
Evelyn Cheng
Shreemayee Dash
Senesha De Silva
Franklin Karton
Ellyn Kim
Sophie Li
Jonathan Main
Pritish Mukherji
Lian Umberger
Amogh Vivek
Sophia Wang
Chloe Yang
Dylan Zuriff
Rockville High School (Rockville)
Ella Webber
Thomas S. Wootton High School (Rockville)
Sophie Baboud
Urbana High School (Ijamsville)
Prathyay Anumarlapudi
Walt Whitman High School (Bethesda)
Zoey Cameron
Mahika Deshpande
Aria Ferguson
Sophia Hollister
Aven Joseph
Brian McCann
Walter Johnson High School (Bethesda)
Veer Anand
Eric Nguyen
Hailey Robinson
Washington Leadership Academy (Washington, DC)
Josias Tene
Wheaton High School (Wheaton)
Yomna Abdelgalil
Sina Binyam
Jude Castano
Fiona Chen
Yonatan Gosaye
Zeni Ighile
Gadisa Meskela
Adrian Orellana
Emre Unlu
Winston Churchill High School (Potomac)
Meera Yelamanchi
Fellows have met with a wide range of STEM professionals. (See below.) They also have visited laboratories at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, and U.S. Capitol buildings.
The non-profit foundation conducts its work in memory and honor of Sandra Lee Heyman, who taught mathematics at the community college, high school, and middle school level in Montgomery County (MD), Fairfax County (VA), and New Providence (NJ). She passed away in 1998, and the foundation was formed by Sandra’s family to honor her memory and extend her legacy. In addition to the fellowships, the foundation sponsors scholarships for Richard Montgomery High School students excelling in mathematics.
Volunteers interested in being considered as a guest speaker, host for a field trip, or mentor can find more information here.
The Foundation welcomes donations to support student Fellows.
For more information, visit www.theslhfoundation.org or email Foundation Board Chairman Mat Heyman: mat@theslhfoundation.org.
STEM professionals who have met with SLH Fellows include:
two Nobel Physics Prize laureates
an astronaut/engineer/lawyer and an engineer/intellectual property attorney
an economist who led all social science programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF)
an electronics engineer who specializes in drones and aerospace technology, another who was honored by TIME magazine as one of the world’s most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI).
an acoustical ocean ecologist and an arctic ocean researcher
a genetic counselor, a physical therapist, and multiple medical doctors working in a variety of health care settings.
a chemist who moved into information technology positions in industry and government and now serves as a top advisor to the NSF and as a senior official at an HBCU (historically black college or university)
math and science high school teachers and university professors and researchers in a wide range of fields
a senior software engineer who manages a major search engine’s performance
White House and federal agency climate and weather researchers and communicators
Naval engineers and architects designing and maintaining U.S. Navy ships
an expert in psychology, human factors, acoustics, and artificial intelligence who worked for the U.S. military and NATO.
a civil engineer who investigates building disasters and another who manages buildings for the U.S. Congress – as well as a civil and environmental engineer who launched a company to provide energy audits and solar microgrids while offering training and jobs to community members after earning degrees at an HBCU and Stanford University
multiple computer scientists, including an artificial intelligence expert, a software engineer, a vice president of a digital advertising company, and cybersecurity experts from the private sector, civilian agencies, as well as the U.S. Army
a chemistry executive and science communicator, along with a prominent chemistry researcher, several biomedical engineers, and biochemists who oversee multiple federal research programs – including one who managed a Defense Department program which made major contributions to the science behind COVID-19 vaccines
doctors practicing obstetrics and gynecology and pediatric medicine
a computer and electronics engineer working in a senior marketing position with a medical equipment manufacturer, and another who is the chief technology officer of a major digital media company
a neuroscientist at a prominent brain research institute who now focuses on outreach to students interested in STEM
a physicist and electronics engineer who has managed large neutron research facilities at multiple federal laboratories
a former congressional and industry staffer and top federal official who is now a lobbyist specializing in technology policy issues.
The Sandra Lee Heyman Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in memory of Sandra Lee Heyman, a long-time mathematics teacher at the elementary, middle school, high school, and community college levels. The 18-month long Fellowship is aimed at promising high school students who have the opportunity to meet with STEM leaders, visit prominent institutions in the Washington, D.C., area, and access peers and mentors to support career exploration in STEM fields. There are multiple ways to support the Fellowship program, and donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.