Meet Our 2023 Navisite’s Next Steminist Scholarship Winners
Although women make up more than half of the college-educated workforce in the U.S., only 27% of them are represented in STEM.
Today, it’s more important than ever that these numbers improve—and that progress is made in diversifying our workplaces. That’s because diverse companies are proven to perform better: They’re 1.7x more innovative and 120% more likely to hit financial goals. Those numbers only begin to paint a much larger picture—and ultimately, greater opportunities for innovation, fresh perspectives and new ideas are all available when we give women a seat at the table.
That’s why, in early 2021, Navisite launched its Next Steminist Scholarship with one major goal in mind: to help close the gender gap in STEM. Since Navisite’s Steminist scholarship program launched in the U.S., the company has awarded nearly $100,000 in scholarships. In 2022, Navisite expanded the program to India, offering two needs-based scholarships to eligible female candidates who are currently enrolled full-time at an accredited college or university.
Now in our third year, we’re excited to officially announce the winners of the 2023 program: Madison Barnett from Alexander City, Alabama; Lily Chen from Basking Ridge, New Jersey; and Elaine Gombos from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“We continue to be impressed by the talent of our Steminist winners and their commitment to furthering their educations and making an impact on the world,” said Gina Murphy, president and chief transformation officer of Navisite. “As these three young women have demonstrated, they are well on their way to becoming the STEM leaders of tomorrow. We are honored to be a part of their journey and help support their goals.”
We’re shining a spotlight on each of the winners—and their plans to pursue careers in STEM that will enable them to develop new medical devices, improve healthcare, and empower mixed-race youth around the globe.
Madison Barnett
“It is my dream to recognize and create possible devices that can improve health management and to improve the quality of life and empower anyone suffering from an affliction.”
Education: University of Alabama
Mission: Madison is currently pursuing a degree in computer engineering. She’s seen how life-changing technology can assist those with medical conditions. She plans to use her degree to develop the software behind future medical devices that can treat a wide range of ailments and medical conditions.
Lily Chen
“Over 10,000 people have been positively impacted. This greatly inspires me to continue to expand my research and build free healthcare solutions for the future.”
Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Mission: Lily plans to pursue a degree in mathematics and computer science. With a passion for using technology to democratize and improve healthcare, Chen has been busy researching a solution to help improve the diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy. In addition to having her research accepted by the Journal of Medical Imaging and Case Reports, she created a free web diagnosis tool that has benefited thousands. She also developed an iOS app with free notifications to help people track and remember to take medications, a free machine-learning mental health therapy chatbot, and a free COVID-19 data visualization solution.
Elaine Gombos
“I’m using tech to improve racial relations and to shift away from an outdated, discriminatory framework. That’s what I want to do in my future.”
Education: Carnegie Mellon University
Mission: With a love of math and coding, her dream is to use her education in computer science to create new technologies that can benefit everyone. One of the areas she’s focused on is empowering mixed-race youth worldwide. She’d like to do this through her degree in various ways, such as exploring alternative racial categorization systems, analyzing mixed-race opinions and data, and delving into computational genomic research and their connection to mixed-race identities.
About Navisite’s Next Steminist Program
The Navisite Next Steminist program is administered by Navisite customer Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarship, tuition assistance, and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals.
To learn more about the Steminists who are making a difference at Navisite, please check out our Steminist Spotlight blog series.