High School Sophomores Can Now Apply for DC-Area STEM Career Exploration Fellowships

Third Class of STEM Fellows to Be Selected

Fellowships that enable high school students to explore careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are now open to sophomores in the Washington, D.C., area. Applications for the three-semester fellowships, sponsored by the Sandra Lee Heyman Foundation, are due by December 10, 2021, and are available here. Fellows will be announced in December and become part of the program’s third class.

The fellowships are aimed at students ranging from those who already want to pursue a STEM career but have not yet identified a specialty to students who are only beginning to consider the possibility of a STEM-based higher education and career.

Fellows meet with STEM leaders across the country, visit prominent institutions in the Washington, D.C. area (public health conditions permitting), and access peers and mentors to support career exploration in STEM fields. For now, future events will be conducted virtually in a small group setting. Fellowships come with a small stipend to cover travel and STEM-related expenses.

For three semesters, fellows take part in events that offer close-up views of careers in which STEM education is a solid foundation – from laboratory researchers and those in “traditional” science and engineering careers to others who use their STEM backgrounds in sports management, arts and entertainment, business and finance, and journalism. To date, Fellows have met with:

  • A Nobel Physics Prize winner at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

  • The chief technology officer of Buzzfeed, the vice president of engineering at a data startup, and a senior director of marketing at a major medical electronics company.

  • An obstetrician, along with the chief of pediatric emergency medicine at an urban hospital

  • The manager for a program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which has helped to develop vaccines to combat infectious diseases and pandemics, including COVID-19

  • The lead official responsible for social, behavioral, and economic science research at the National Science Foundation (NSF)

  • A climate science communicator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

  • The chief executive of the world’s largest association of scientists

Fellows also are connected with other successful STEM professionals, including previous winners of the Sandra Lee Heyman Higher Mathematics Award – a scholarship given annually since 1999 to one outstanding mathematics student at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, MD. 

 The non-profit Foundation conducts its work in memory and honor of Sandra Lee Heyman, who taught mathematics at the community college, high school, and middle school level in Montgomery County (MD), Fairfax County (VA), and New Providence (NJ). She passed away in 1998 due to an autoimmune blood disease. The Foundation was formed by Sandra’s family to honor her memory and extend her legacy.

 For more information, visit https://www.theslhfoundation.org/ or contact Foundation Board President Mat Heyman: mat@theslhfoundation.org

Call for applicationsJustin Heyman