Sanan Khairabadi Awarded Aspire2STEAM EXPLORER Scholarship

ANKENY, IA, UNITED STATES, September 21, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — Aspire2STEAM.org, which provides educational scholarships and mentoring to young women and girls who are working toward careers that require education in science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math (STEAM), has awarded Sanan Khairabadi an EXPLORER scholarship.

A high school junior from Statesboro, Georgia, Sanan used her Aspire2STEAM scholarship funds to help pay tuition costs to attend the iResearch Institute premier international Summer Research Institute for high school and early college students. “We were delighted to support Sanan’s desire to attend this wonderful and quite rigorous program where she was able to complete a research project of her own choosing with the support of an exceptional team of mentors and faculty,” said Cheryl O’Donoghue, Aspire2STEAM.org CEO.

Specifically, Sanan researched the genetics of different plastic-degrading bacteria by studying the genes of the bacteria enzymes and conducting a pangenomic study of the genomes. Her goal for the project was to identify candidate enzymes for degrading LDPE plastic. Additionally, Sanan plans to build on her summer research and submit it to state and regional science fairs. “I absolutely love research and learned so much through the iResearch Institute program that can help me become a better researcher and scientist,” said Sanan. “I’ll be able to take these skills to college and even beyond.”

As a busy 11th grader, Sanan is involved in a wide variety of STEM subjects, projects, and clubs. Her goal is to one day be accepted into a college program to pursue a degree in environmental engineering or biology.

Sanan is hard working and extremely motivated. A couple years ago, she taught herself how to code and then created an app which earned her 2nd place in the Congressional App Challenge. In 9th grade, she submitted a science fair research project on how soil salinity affects tomatoes versus other plants and whether salinity tolerance of Galapagos tomatoes give the domestic tomato an advantage in tolerating saline conditions. She won 1st place for this project at the Savannah State Science Fair. Additionally, Sanan is on her school’s Science Quiz Bowl team, which won 2nd at Valdosta State University last year. Sanan enjoys Science Quiz Bowl because she gets quizzed on questions in the fields of astronomy, earth science, physics, chemistry, biology, and calculus, broadening her knowledge and interest in science.

Said Sanan, “I want to thank the Aspire2STEAM community for making this scholarship possible and helping women and girls like me overcome barriers to their educational pursuits.”

About Aspire2STEAM

Established in 2018, Aspire2STEAM.org is a charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which has earned Guidestar’s Gold Seal for integrity, transparency, and accountability. Aspire2STEAM provides educational scholarships and mentoring to young women and girls who are working hard—aspiring—to achieve careers that require education in science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math. Aspire2STEAM is committed to helping women and girls with a hand up over the incredible barriers of student debt and rising education costs, and the real, ever-present opportunity barriers that keep them out of most male-dominated industries.

Scholarship Applications Accepted Year-Round! Share this online application today.

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Cheryl O’Donoghue
Aspire2STEAM
[email protected]
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Meet Sanan Khairabadi, aspiring environmental engineer