August 31, 2016 —
Reno, Nev. – The Davidson Institute of Talent Development has announced the 2016 Davidson Fellows. Among the honorees is 17-year-old Justine Izah of Crown Point, Ind. Izah won a $10,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship for her project, An Examination of Black Liberation, Stereotypes, Healthcare and Education Through the Eyes of a Black Woman. She is one of only 20 students from across the country to receive this honor.
Justine Izah $10,000 Scholarship Recipient Age: 17 Crown Point, IN
“Being a Davidson Fellow means that I am able to share personal experiences backed by academic research in order to show peers that a change needs to come about,” said Izah.
In her project, Izah explored the racial disparities facing black people, specifically women, and the inequities they experience in education, health care, and economic status. Inspired by her own experiences of being treated differently growing up, Izah hopes that her research will shed light on the black experience and generate empathy in non-black readers.
Beyond her interests in writing and political activism, Izah also enjoys fashion, fitness, and music. She has played the piano since she was two years old and she has been involved in several community organizations, including the Girl Scouts of America and South Shore Leadership for Community Engagement.
In addition to the Davidson Fellows Scholarship, Izah received the Nagubadi Family Scholarship and the Provost Scholarship from Indiana University. She will attend Indiana University this fall to pursue a degree in sociology.
“We are thrilled to recognize the 2016 Davidson Fellows not only for their incredible projects, but also for the journey they forged to reach this point,” said Bob Davidson, founder of the Davidson Institute. “Every year I am amazed by the depth of the Fellows’ accomplishments. Through encouragement and recognition, the Davidson Institute for Talent Development anticipates that gifted students like these will be among the pioneers who will solve the world’s most vexing problems.”
The 2016 Davidson Fellows will be honored at a reception in Washington, D.C., on September 21.
The Davidson Fellows Scholarship program offers $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships to students 18 or younger, who have completed significant projects that have the potential to benefit society in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, literature and music. The Davidson Fellows Scholarship has provided more than $6.7 million in scholarship funds to 286 students since its inception in 2001, and has been named one of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships by U.S. News & World Report. It is a program of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Reno, Nev. that supports profoundly gifted youth.
About the Davidson Institute
Founded by Bob Davidson in 1999, the Davidson Institute for Talent Development recognizes, nurtures and supports profoundly intelligent young people, and provides opportunities for them to develop their talents to make a positive difference. The Institute offers support through a number of programs and services, including the Davidson Fellows Scholarship and the Davidson Academy of Nevada. For more information about the 2016 Davidson Fellows, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org.
2016 Davidson Fellow Laureates
$50,000 Scholarships
Miss Meena Jagadeesan, 18, Naperville, Ill.; The Exchange Graphs of Weakly Separated Collections
Mr. Christopher Lindsay, 17, Honolulu, Hawaii; Kahakai to Hohonukai: Environmental Studies of Marine Biota Using Underwater Time-Lapse Photography and Multiple Camera Arrays at Various Depths
Miss Sriharshita Musunuri, 16, Mill Creek, Wash.; Application of Tetrahedrite and Magnesium Silicide in a Novel Thermoelectric Unicouple to Generate Electricity from Industrial Waste Heat
Mr. Nicolas Poux, 17, Palo Alto, Calif.; Development of a High-Resolution Multi-color Fluorescent Reporter for Clonal Analysis
2016 Davidson Fellows
$25,000 Scholarships
Mr. Michael Du, 17, Houston, Texas; Nifurtimox Limits Cell Proliferation in Glioblastoma Multiforme in Vitro
Mr. Anurudh Ganesan, 16, Clarksburg, Md.; VAXXWAGON: An Innovative Eco-Friendly “No Ice, No Electric” Active Refrigeration System for Last-Leg Vaccine Transportation
Mr. Raghav Ganesh, 14, San Jose, Calif.; Serene: An Assistive Biomedical System for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Mr. Ellis Hamilton, 17, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; The Music in Me
Miss Katherine Hudek, 17, Grafton, Mass.; Quacee: A New Quantum Programming Language for Specifying Quantum Computations
Mr. Wyatt Pontius, 18, Sterling, Va.; Reinventing the Leaf: A Novel Biohybrid Photosynthetic System
Miss Maya Varma, 18, Cupertino, Calif.; A Wireless Smartphone-Based System for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Illnesses
Miss Jaelynn Walls, 17, Pearland, Texas; Humanity On-Screen: Engendering Positive Self-Perception and Political Activism in Persons With Marginalized Identities
$10,000 Scholarships
Mr. Christopher Huh, 17, Germantown, Md.; History’s Lessons
Miss Justine Izah, 17, Crown Point, Ind.; An Examination of Black Liberation, Stereotypes, Healthcare and Education Through the Eyes of a Black Woman
Mr. Noah Lee, 16, Oakland, N.J.; Changing the World Begins With A Single Person Feeling Valued
Miss Surabhi Mundada, 17, Olympia, Wash.; MyGlove: Assisting Hand Movements, Grip, and Tremor
Miss Isabel Seguin, 18, Boston, Mass.; The Cycle of Uighur Discontent
Miss Kavita Selva, 16, Houston, Texas; From Nano Defects to Mega Power: Heavily-Zirconium-Doped Trapped Field (Gd,Y)BaCuO Superconductor Tapes for High Power Wind Turbine Generators
Mr. Clifford Soloway, 18, Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.; Reprogramming of Metabolism in Cancer Cells Through Lysine Succinylation
Miss Josephine Yu, 17, Potomac, Md.; Lattice and Continuum Models of Solitons and Vortices in Bilayer Graphene
