The 40 new fellows are from 12 high schools in Montgomery County and Baltimore, MD, including 7 schools new to the program and a home-schooled student. Among the new schools with fellows is the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, associated with Baltimore’s Ingenuity Project, an advanced math and science instructional program with the mission of preparing and launching the next diverse generation of nationally competitive STEM leaders from Baltimore’s city’s public schools.

Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville continues to claim the largest number of fellows. Sandra Heyman led the mathematics faculty at the school until she passed away in 1998.

The new sophomore and junior fellows join 82 students from four previous classes since the program launched in 2020.  They will meet with a diverse group of STEM professionals from around the country over the next three semesters to gain insights and exposure to a variety of fields. 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 – although most have not yet identified a specialty – to other students who are only beginning to consider the possibility of STEM-based higher education and careers.

The fifth class of fellows and their schools are:

Albert Einstein High School (North Kensington)
Jamila Nguyen

Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Baltimore)
Nabil Aime, Kaii Bushyager, Andrew Gao, Sylvie Rehr

Covenant Life School (Gaithersburg)
Kai Chen

Gaithersburg High School (Gaithersburg)
Niral Jagadeesh

Homeschool (North Bethesda)
Keira Dempsey

James H. Blake High School (Colesville)
Nikhil Paranjape

John F. Kennedy High School (Wheaton, Glenmont)
Olapeju Badmus

Northwest High School (Germantown)
Megan Tang, Anjali Vanka

Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney)
Brandon Lacey

Poolesville High School (Poolesville)
Ramya Chokkalingam, Pankhuri Malayanil, Alicia Yang

Richard Montgomery High School (Rockville)
Ruslan Akmyradov, Oren Egnal, Sophie Huang, Elli Jacobs, Audrey Johnson, Ayush Kalotra, Chloe Kennedy, Sophia Li, Renata Podlesny, Aditya Purohit, Vihaan Rathi, Keerthna Rawat, Jahnavi Sabnis, Kailash Sabnis, Jinwoo Shin, Katherine Sundstrom, Logan Tannenbaum, Srihith Viswanathan, Katherine Xue, Catherine Yang, Chelsea Zhu

Walt Whitman High School (Bethesda)
Evelyn Ye

Winston Churchill High School (Potomac)
Alexander Chiochankitmun, Myla Leung

For three semesters the fellows take part in events that offer close-up views of careers in which STEM education is a solid foundation – 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.

Fellows have visited laboratories at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, and U.S. Capitol buildings. Among STEM professionals they have spoken with are:

  • A Nobel Physics Prize laureate,

  • White House and federal agency climate and weather researchers and communicators,

  • an astronaut/engineer/lawyer and an engineer/intellectual property attorney,

  • an economist who managed all social science programs at the National Science Foundation,

  • math and science high school teachers and university professors and researchers,

  • structural engineers who investigate building disasters and manage buildings for the U.S. Congress,

  • computer scientists including an artificial intelligence expert, a software engineer, a vice president of a digital advertising company, and a cybersecurity expert,

  • a chemistry executive and science communicator along with biomedical engineers and a chemist/bioscientist who manages a program which made major contributions to the science behind COVID-19 vaccines,

  • an acoustical ocean ecologist,

  • an electronics engineer who specializes in drones and aerospace technology,

  • doctors practicing obstetrics and gynecology and pediatric medicine, and

  • an 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.

 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 due to an autoimmune blood disease. 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: [email protected].