111 New Jersey Students Graduate from Governor’s STEM Scholars

Program Surpasses 1,000 Alumni Milestone as State’s Future Innovators Take the Stage On Saturday, May 3, 2025, 111 high school and college students from all 21 counties in New Jersey graduated from the Governor’s STEM Scholars, a year-long program of the Research & Development Council of New Jersey. The program provides students with a 360° view of the state’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) ecosystem through conferences, research, and immersive site visits.

Assemblyman Tully addresses the Scholars.

This year’s commencement, held at Kean University, marked a significant milestone—bringing the program’s alumni network to more than 1,000 Scholars since its founding. Each graduate received a diploma signed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and a Joint Legislative Resolution sponsored by Assemblyman Chris Tully (LD-38), Deputy Majority Leader and Chair of the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee.

Distinguished speakers at the ceremony included Assemblyman Tully and Aaron Price, CEO of TechUnited:NJ.

TechUnited CEO Aaron Price provides keynote address during the Commencement Conference.

Graduating Scholars presented year-long, community-based research projects led by undergraduate and graduate team leaders. One standout project—CleanWater NJ: Empowering our Communities with Mobile Actionable Water Quality Insights—was awarded the Excellence in Research Award. The project was led by Joseph David Quinn-Vitable, with team members Warisha Bari, Sophia Halm, Prisha Malik, Maahishee Patel, Rishabh Sankar, and Neeka Vojdani.  Projects were evaluated by an esteemed panel of judges including Ian Crowley, Ph.D. of Nokia Bell Labs, Alexandra Sun, Ph.D. of Merck & Co., and Smita Thakker-Varia, Ph.D. of Rutgers University.

Excellence in Research Award Winners Prisha Malik, Sophia Halm, Joseph David Quinn-Vitable, Warisha Bari, Neeka Vojdani, and Rishabh Sankar. Maahishee Patel not pictured.

“This year’s 111 Scholars represent the best of what New Jersey has to offer—and with this class, we’ve officially crossed the threshold of 1,000 alumni,” said Alise Roderer, Director of the Governor’s STEM Scholars. “From lab tours to research and policy briefings, these students are building lifelong connections to the state’s STEM economy and becoming New Jersey’s next generation of innovators.”

The Governor’s STEM Scholars is a public-private partnership between the Research & Development Council of New Jersey, the Office of the Governor, the New Jersey Department of Education, the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, and New Jersey’s public and private research universities.

Throughout the academic year, Scholars participated in four conferences exploring STEM in government, academia, and industry. These were hosted by Rutgers School of Engineering, Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Kean University. In addition, students visited Bristol Myers Squibb and engaged in virtual sessions with professionals from Kenvue and Dr. Lauren Seyler, an astrobiology professor at Stockton University.

The program is free for all participants thanks to the support of Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Merck & Co., Novartis, PSEG Foundation, Spencer Savings Bank, and Stryker.

The 2025 Governor’s STEM Scholars graduates are:

Janine Abdo

Asaad Abdul-Hamid

David Adu

Pomaah Agyen-Kumah

Oluwadarasimi Ajewole

Blessing Anyangwe

Gabriel Arias Galvan

Jeffry Arteaga

Ahmed Ashraf

Maya Baireddy

Namish Bansal

Sarah Bansal

Warisha Bari

Sanjushree Bastia

Madelyn Boston

Happy Boutrus 

Julio Cervantes

Shashwat Chakraborty

Melanie Chauca

Amy Chen

Anu Chidambaram 

Isabella Cortés Parra

Anyelo Cruz

Genesis DaSilva 

Tanishka Dhake

María Gabriela Diaz Quintero

Jonathan Duran

Shreya Dutt

Princess Eminue

Omoyemi Falana

Sean Fialcowitz

Fiona Gale

Sophia Gao

Aryan Garg

Ezra Goldfarb

Eliana Gonzalez Leon

Riya Goyal

Dylan Gray

Hillary Sther Guarango Arpi

Ali Hagag

Sophia Halm

Amiri Hayes

Penelope Herra 

Noah Hyun

Leah Inzana

Esther Ishola

Kevin Jin

Navneet Kalatheeswaran

Ashley Kim

Anya Konduru

Gauri Kshettry

Yasmine Lalani

Gary Leschinsky

Lukas Liakhovitch

Fatima Lira

Kriti Malhotra

Prisha Malhotra

Prisha Malik

Angel Marquez

Hillary Martinez 

Mukund Maurya

Noah Meier

Haley Mody

Shaan Mody 

Arnav Mohanty

Abdulqudus Morakinyo

Maira Nadeem

Mary Okolla

Lamarr Olive

Estefania Orjuela Parra

Taylor Pape

Anna Park

Eva Patel

Maahishee Patel

Yash Pathak Kaavya Pratikantham

Joseph David Quinn-Vitabile

Rana Rabayah

Sanjay Ravishankar

Victoria Rose

Andres Ruiz Grijalva

Di’dyana Rutty

Christina Salazar

Rishabh Sankar

Krystal Santiago

Josephine Serrano

Krishi Shah

Siddharth Shankar

Megha Sikka

Bree Smith

Florence So

Connor Stager

Daniel Steiner

Brianna Suazo

Rachel Sun

Elianna Taveras

Samuel Tobachnick 

Paulina Tomlin 

Delancey Van Meir

Nandini Venkatesh 

Aaron Vivanco

Neeka Vojdani

Anhphi Vu

Tanvi Walia

Saniya Williams 

Audrey Xu

Annabel Yin

Simon Youn

Sapjah Zapotitla

Bowen Zhang

Kevin Zhang