The Governor’s STEM Scholars has named an Old Bridge High School student to its 2023 Scholars class.
Kavya Venkatesan is part of a 2023 Scholars class that consists of 128 scholars from 20 counties across the state.
Students of color make up 83% of this year’s scholars and 64% of the class identifies as female, according to the Governor’s STEM Scholars (GSS).
“The Governor’s STEM Scholars provides high-achieving New Jersey STEM students in grades 10 through doctoral level with an introduction to the state’s vast STEM economy to retain that talent in the state,” GSS said.
Kavya Venkatesan is a junior at Old Bridge High School. She is the youngest research intern for the Federal Aviation Administration and AI (artificial intelligence) Lab at Rowan University where she is working on deep learning solutions to reduce rotorcraft collisions. Kavya has also published several gene analyses in the National Center of Biotechnology Information Database and is continuing her DNA sequence research with Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University. In addition, Kavya is a Scholar at the W.E.B. Dubois STEM Institute.
Kavya has a strong passion for guiding youth in her community about the power of STEM. Kavya has dedicated more than 1,000 hours to organizing global summits and workshops for young girls and minorities from 70 plus schools. For her impactful advocacy, Kavya was recognized as a national honoree for NCWIT (National Center for Women and Technology), recipient of Presidential Gold Awards, and Distinguished Student of the Year for NJ Association for Gifted Children. Kavya was also selected in the 2022 class of the 74’s 16 Under 16 in STEM. Outside of her research and leadership, Kavya is a multicultural musician and varsity golfer. Kavya aspires to pursue a career in the intersection of computer science, healthcare and business while simultaneously working for the higher purpose of giving back to her community.
GSS introduces scholars to New Jersey’s STEM economy with a public-private partnership among the Research & Development Council of New Jersey, the New Jersey Office of the Governor, the New Jersey Department of Education, the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, and the state’s leading research companies.
The scholars are able to do this through master classes, research work, quarterly symposiums and field trips.
The program conducts four weekend conferences in the academic year, which allows for the scholars to engage with state STEM professionals.
In order to graduate from the program scholars must attend all of the four conferences and take part in a research project as a team member or a team leader.
When the students graduate in May 2023, they will join an alumni cohort of over 700 Scholars.
