Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the IEEE Presidents’ Scholarship. Since its inception, the prestigious US $10,000 award has been given annually to one exceptional high school student participating in the Regeneron (formerly Intel) International Science and Engineering Fair. The ISEF is the world’s largest international STEM research competition for high school students.
Finalists for the scholarship are selected by a team of IEEE volunteer judges. The scholarship is funded by the IEEE Foundation and administered by IEEE Educational Activities.
To commemorate the scholarship’s anniversary, I asked past winners how the award impacted their life and career, and what they are doing today.
Harvard educator and a film producer
Elena Glassman received the scholarship in 2004 for her Brain-Computer Interface for the Muscularly Disabled project.Elena Glassman
Elena Glassman received the scholarship in 2004 for her Brain-Computer Interface for the Muscularly Disabled project. She wrote code to collect EEG wavelets that predicted her own right or left arm movement with an accuracy rate of 73 percent.
Today Glassman is an assistant professor of computer science at Harvard, where she teaches human-computer interaction. She is also a new mother. The scholarship supported her education at MIT, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. She says the scholarship was among the most memorable awards she received.
“When your project is being evaluated by IEEE judges who understand the work,” she says, “that’s what was so meaningful about receiving the award.” With encouragement from her father, a lifelong IEEE member, she submitted a paper about her project to IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, which published it.
In her current work, she says, she enjoys focusing on the “human side of programming.” She adds that her electrical engineering background is useful in tackling all sorts of projects.
Adam Sidmanreceived the 2005 scholarship for Camera Stabilization: Take Two. His project centered around the development of a handheld servo-based device. The film and TV producer in Los Angeles says his invention is a “go-to everyday technology for filmmakers on sets around the world.”
Sidman is chief executive of Timur Bekmambetov’s production company, Bazelevs, where he has overseen a variety of movies including The Current War, Hardcore Henry,Searching, and Unfriended.
Receiving the scholarship was “a tremendous honor,” he says, “validating my passion to combine the arts and sciences.” He graduated from Harvard with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and visual and environmental studies.
Last year he collaborated with ISEF organizers to establish a new category of projects, Technology Enhances the Arts, and he continues to serve as a judge.
An entrepreneur and a gene researcher
Rahul Kumar Pandey, a software engineer-turned-entrepreneur, received the scholarship in 2007. His startup, Taro, helps software engineers navigate the professional world, providing advice on job searching, negotiation, promotions, and leadership. The platform boasts more than 100,000 users. Pandey is a writer for IEEE’s Careers newsletter.
The scholarship supported his degree in computer science at Stanford.
He credits his science-fair experience with giving him the confidence to innovate and advance the field.
His winning project, A Microwave Metamaterial Lens With Negative Index of Refraction, focused on building a lens array to transmit microwave signals, and it tested their behavior in terms of how the lens affected the propagation of electromagnetic waves.
“When I heard my name called, I couldn’t stop smiling,” he recalls, “because an organization like IEEE believed in me.”
Pandey advises high school students that “the world is your oyster, if you have curiosity. You don’t have to wait until you feel ready.”
Harikrishna “Hari” Rallapalli, the 2008 scholarship recipient, is a research fellow at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, in Bethesda, Md.
Rallapalli says he plans to research techniques that enable gene expression imaging in humans, a method that allows for the visualization and quantification of the activity of specific genes.
His winning project, Low-Cost Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy, focused on building a microscope for classrooms, both for demonstrations and student-level research.
The scholarship helped support his education at the University of California, Davis, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.
“It felt amazing to have my work recognized by anyone, let alone an organization as prestigious as IEEE,” he says. “It was an early indication that I might cut it as a scientist.”
Software engineer and a Forbes 30 Under 30 candidate
Jessica Richeri,the 2011 recipient, is a software design engineer at Fluke in Everett, Wash. She is designing and developing a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for one of the company’s factories. The system collects data from equipment and creates analytics dashboards and reports.
Richeri’s winning entry, Autonomous Robotic Vehicle: Saving Lives, Preventing Accidents, One at a Time, centered on building a vehicle and software to support it. Ultimately, she says, her design and its use of sensors and software could be incorporated into vehicles to prevent traffic accidents.
“The scholarship meant the world [to me]. I felt so honored that I was chosen to receive the award for all the hard work I put into my project,” she says.
A year after receiving the scholarship, she was invited to the California Capitol, in Sacramento, to present her project and discuss promoting STEM fields with her U.S. representative.
The money supported her education at California Baptist University, in Riverside, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering.
“Winning the scholarship gave me confidence that my engineering passion could become a career. It was the start of my incredibly fun and exciting professional journey.” —2015 winner Alex Tacescu
She advises aspiring engineers that “the journey might be challenging, but the sense of accomplishment and the impact you’ll make in the world are more than worth the effort.”
The 2014 scholarship recipient, George Morgan,presented A Multi-Architectural Approach to the Development of Embedded Software. His aim, he says, was to make hardware and software development more accessible. He transformed his project into a suite of development tools for embedded-systems engineers to expedite operations.
“I remember walking on stage and feeling the excitement of being recognized for my project,” Morgan says. “In that instant, all my hard work felt validated, and I knew someone understood the level of difficulty and commitment required to reach that point.”
The scholarship supported his education at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in New York, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in 2017.
He began working at Tesla in 2018 on the AI team, dealing with the software and hardware that powers the electric vehicles’ autopilot.
Recently named amongForbes’ 30 Under 30 in AI, he founded Symbolica, a research-focused startup that develops foundational AI models and alternatives to the transformer architecture used in ChatGPT.
Spaceflight engineer and a crash-prevention-system designer
Alex Tacescu received the 2015 scholarship for Project Maverick (now known as Mavdrive). The project let users stand upright while moving around on a wheeled, motorized 0.6- by 0.6-meter platform. It is similar to a Segway but more stable, with four wheels instead of two, and each powered by independently controlled motors. He says it serves as a pathway to learn new technologies including control engineering, robot autonomy, simulation, and AI-powered machine vision.
“Winning the scholarship gave me confidence that my engineering passion could become a career,” Tacescu says. “It was the start of my incredibly fun and exciting professional journey. I will never forget the moment I was called up on that stage.”
He earned a bachelor’s degree in science and robotics engineering and a master’s degree in robotics engineering, both from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts. He joined SpaceX as a Falcon flight software engineer and contributed to two groundbreaking missions. DART was the first human-made item to measurably move a celestial body, and Inspiration4 was the first all-civilian mission to orbit. Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space is now on Netflix.
After nearly three years at SpaceX, Tacescu joined Inversion Space as a flight software engineer. The startup is focused on developing re-entry vehicles.
He advises high school seniors to “find their passion and keep at it. It’s going to be hard, and there will be very rough moments, but having it part of your passion makes it so much more fun, especially when those accomplishments start coming in.”
University student Kerem Bayhan, the 2021 scholarship recipient, won for a project focused on a system to help prevent underride car crashes, which occur when a vehicle collides with the rear or side of a large truck and gets stuck under it.Kerem Bayhan
Kerem Bayhan, the 2021 scholarship recipient, won for a project focused on a system to help prevent underride car crashes, which occur when a vehicle collides with the rear or side of a large truck and gets stuck under it.
Driven by a desire to make an impact on human lives, Bayhan says, he shifted his focus from engineering to medicine. He is currently a student at Hacettepe University, in Ankara, Türkiye.
“Winning the IEEE Presidents’ Scholarship award was an incredible and unexpected honor,” he says. “To have my project recognized by IEEE, one of the largest and most prestigious organizations in engineering, was immensely rewarding.”
He says he believes engineering skills are invaluable across many fields: “The analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and creativity at the core of engineering can set individuals apart, no matter what path they choose to follow.”
Weather balloons, a glaucoma-detection device, and drones
Amon Schumann was the 2022 scholarship recipient based on his Small Radiosondes on a Great Mission project, a sustainable weather balloon that is eco-friendly, cost-effective, and stays in the air longer than traditional ones. Now he’s studying electrical engineering at Technische Universität Berlin, where he has discovered an interest in high-frequency technology and circuit design.
After receiving the scholarship, Schumann enhanced his ISEF project by adding a live-streaming camera and additional sensors.
“My system initially allowed for flights lasting a few weeks,” he says. “I’ve since refined it to enable the balloons to collect data in the stratosphere for several months.”
Winning the scholarship was a significant motivator, he says, as it validated the potential of his basement-developed project and showed its potential for broad impact.
“Receiving the scholarship gave me the opportunity to become deeply involved with IEEE,” he says, “opening doors to connect with key decision-makers in science and technology and leading to my student researcher role” at a Berlin-based research institute specializing in high-frequency electronics.
Rohan Kalia, the 2023 scholarship recipient, is a senior at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga. For his winning project, he developed EyePal, an inexpensive tool for early glaucoma detection.
After receiving the scholarship, he continued to refine his project, enhancing its functionality.
“I open-sourced the parts, so if anyone wants to build on my device, they can,” Kalia says.
He was honored to receive the award, he says, knowing that past scholarship winners had made such creative projects.
“I really enjoyed the conversation with my interviewers,” he says. “We discussed the technical aspects of possible solutions and their trade-offs.”
He advises high school students to “keep an open mind” about their interests.
“Be curious about many different things,” he suggests, “as they connect in interesting ways. Once you find a topic you can’t stop thinking about, start a project to explore it.”
High school senior Angelina Kim was the 2024 scholarship recipient for her Autonomous Scout and Rescue UAVs for Ocean Safety.Angelina Kim
Angelina Kim was last year’s scholarship recipient. She is a high school senior at the Bishop’s School in La Jolla, Calif., where she is president of the All Girls STEM Society, a nonprofit, student-led organization that holds free monthly workshops for girls in grades 3 to 8 across San Diego. She plans to study electrical engineering at MIT.
Kim won the scholarship for her Autonomous Scout and Rescue UAVs for Ocean Safety. She developed a drone that could survey the shoreline, taking photographs and analyzing them to identify rip currents.
To continue her work related to the project, she is chief executive of AngelTech, a startup dedicated to enhancing public safety through innovative technologies.
“Through AngelTech, I’m partnering with local lifeguards to deploy my lifeguard scout and rescue drones on nearby beaches,” she says.
She also is developing new technologies to enhance public safety, she says, including a synchronized display created through several device screens. She holds a patent for the invention.
She says she was thrilled to receive the scholarship because she knew it would help her develop valuable contacts within IEEE and provide support for her future research.
“I hope to use the connections I’ve made through the scholarship to share my research and networking experiences with fellow engineers and companies, and to serve as a mentor for young girls who have limited access to STEM resources,” she says.
An article about this year’s recipient is scheduled to be published in The Institute in August.
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