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Progress announced the recipients of its 2024 Women in STEM Scholarship Series.

Established in 2019 and available to those who identify as women, the scholarship series aims to open opportunities to students in the US, Bulgaria and India pursuing computer science, software engineering, IT and/or computer information systems. For the first time, the scholarship has been expanded to seven well-deserving recipients.

“Each year, we have the privilege of meeting passionate, intelligent young women who aspire to use their STEM skills to advance their communities and the tech industry,” said Yogesh Gupta, CEO, Progress. “This year’s recipients include a student who hopes to use AI to increase access to affordable housing, a scholar who developed a robot for cleaning solar panels and a creative who aims to design educational video games about the environment. Each recipient has admirable goals, and we are honored to play a small role in their academic and professional journeys – congratulations to all of these remarkable students.”

Mary Székely Scholarship for Women in STEM in the US

The Progress Software Mary Székely Scholarship for Women in STEM is a four-year renewable scholarship and has historically been granted to one recipient each year. In 2024, Progress has made a unique exception and awarded the scholarship to two students. This year’s recipients are Neidy Merida-Lopez and Emma Normand.

Neidy is a graduate of KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate who excelled in her AP classes, acted as an alumni ambassador for Global Glimpse, an organization committed to building a new generation of diverse young leaders, and was a member of the National Honor Society (NHS) and National Ed Equity Labs Honor Society. Neidy also participated in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition where her team was the Massachusetts State Winner for their work focused on tackling medical discrepancies in sun protection across skin color. Neidy will be pursuing a computer science degree at Vassar College in New York.

Emma is a graduate of Joseph Case High School in Swansea, MA. She ranked in the top 10% of her class, founded a Girls Who Code group for her school, thrived in AP classes, received multiple academic achievement awards and was an NHS member. An avid coder and an artist, Emma will be majoring in computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.

Women in Tech Scholarships in Bulgaria

The Women in Tech Scholarship Program in Bulgaria includes two annual scholarships. This year’s recipients are Violeta Kastreva and Teodora Savcheva.

Violeta is pursuing a computer science degree at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (FMI) at Sofia University where she has many achievements under her belt. She was awarded Student of the Year for Mathematics and Informatics, and she received multiple medals at the Team Open Mathematical Olympiad for University Students and the Interuniversity Competition of Mathematics. Additionally, Violeta is a teaching assistant at FMI where she covers diverse subjects, including Introduction to Programming in C++, and she volunteered for UNICEF where she educated students on cybersecurity.

Teodora is studying intelligent systems and artificial intelligence at the Technical University of Sofia. She is part of the Robotics Club and has received numerous awards for her team’s Solar Reviver Autonomous Robot. Along with these accolades, she taught LEGO robotics, DEV Python and Data Science to children.

In addition to the Women in STEM Scholarship Series, Progress contributes funds to the scholarship program at the American University in Bulgaria. This year, the company’s donation was given to Blagovesta Blagoeva, a computer science and psychology major.

Akanksha Scholarship for Women in STEM in India

The Progress Software Akanksha Scholarship for Women in STEM is a four‐year renewable scholarship to cover tuition, fees and educational expenses. This year, three young women have been selected as recipients: Prarthana R, Nikita S Raj Kapini and Garnepudi Bhavika.

Prarthana is a first-year information science and engineering major at the RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru. Prarthana already has a string of accomplishments, including the Vidyaniketan PU College Topper Award. She has also qualified for a prototype phase of the KSP Datathon for the Karnataka State Police Department.

Nikita is also a first-year student at the RV College of Engineering, majoring in engineering. She is a National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scholar, ranked second in the International Math Olympiad, won first place in her District-Level Match Science Olympiad and was the first girl from Davangere to win the AITA Talent Tennis Series in her age group.

Bhavika is pursuing a degree in engineering at the Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Kanuru. She has contributed to essay competitions on mathematics and maglev trains and participated in the “Programming for Problem Solving using C” workshop.

Progress congratulates all 2024 recipients.

The Progress Women in STEM Scholarship Series is part of the Progress for Tomorrow Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.