The Advancing Women in Science Scholarship (AWS) demonstrates the commitment of the College of Science to increase the representation and advancement of women in science majors and careers. Eligible candidates include full-time undergraduate women enrolled in the college. As part of the Advancing Women in Science community, scholarship recipients participate in quarterly meetings with a cohort of fellow awardees focused on professional development and mentoring skills.
This year, ten outstanding women are 2024 AWS scholars! Congratulations to the following students:
Warda Ahmed ’26, Biochemistry
Warda is on the Pre-Med track and plans to take full advantage of all the opportunities Northeastern affords her. In addition to her studies, she has been a teaching assistant for both math and chemistry courses. Currently, she is a research aide in the Lab of Aging and Infertility Research where she conducts stem cell research, and she is a peer mentor for students enrolled in Introduction to Biochemistry. She recently completed a co-op as a biology research assistant at Larkspur Biosciences.
Camille Amaditz ’26, Psychology
Camille is a psychology, Spanish, and ethics student interested in pursuing a career in genetic counseling. She is eager to apply the critical analysis skills she has learned to develop genome sequencing and editing technologies. She is a member of Northeastern’s Genetic Counseling Student Interest Group (GCSIG). Currently, she is completing an internship at Genomes2Veterans where she is a clinical research coordinator, and is working alongside genetic counselors doing clinical research.
Alexandra (Sasha) Aranovich ’26 Applied Physics
Sasha began volunteering and working as a research assistant at Pledge Therapeutics before she had even started her first year at Northeastern. Since then she has worked as a bioinformatics intern at Sandia National Laboratories, where she developed a software pipeline on Linux for automated genomic island identification from next-gen sequencing data. Currently, she is a research assistant at the Network Science Institute where she studies the underlying network structure of trained and untrained deep learning models.
Tiffany Chen ’26, Biochemistry
Tiffany aspires to drive change and innovation in the community through scientific research. She recently completed her first co-op at Arbor Biotechnologies, where she led two projects within the bioanalysis group, working primarily independently she developed protein-based, cell-based, and immunotoxicity assays. Currently, she is an undergraduate research assistant at the Lab for Aging and Infertility Research, where she investigates the role of hypoxia in ovarian function and stem cell differentiation.
Ashleigh Chiwaya ’26, Data Science and Psychology
Ashleigh is interested in becoming a psychiatrist focused on Black women’s wellness and working in industrial psychology. As a second year she co-founded Nuly Root’d, a beauty supply vending machine venture for college campuses. She developed an interest in entrepreneurship, empowerment, and wellness for girls and women of color early in life. She has pursued her interests by being involved in the Entrepreneurship club, COS Connections to Innovation, IDEA, and the Black Student Association.
Saray Gallo ’26, Behavioral Neuroscience
Saray’s main interests lie within cell and molecular biology. Her hope is to break into the pharmaceutical industry, where she can contribute to the advancement of healthcare through innovative biotechnological techniques. She is currently on co-op with Biogen, working in the Genetic and Neurodevelopment Disorders Unit. She was a research assistant at the Center for Translational Neuroimaging at Northeastern, as well as at Harvard Medical School’s Johan Paulsson lab.
Sadhana Gopinath ’26, Behavioral Neuroscience
Sadhana is an active member of the Northeastern community and is readily pursuing the array of opportunities presented to her. She is a part of multiple campus organizations such as the Neurons Club, Alpha Epsilon Phi, and is on the G-Board for the National Marrow Donor Program Club. Currently, she is a research assistant at both the Northeastern University Brain Game Center and the Center for Translational Neuroimaging. The first co-op she completed was as a clinical trials operations intern at BioSensics.
Eshna Kulshreshtha ’26, Marine Biology
Eshna is passionate about bringing awareness to the pressing topics that are impacting our planet. She joined the Stubbins lab as a ROUTES Scholar co-op where she studied safe drinking water and the impacts of chlorinated disinfection byproducts. She recently accepted a role as an undergraduate research assistant in the Stubbins lab, where she will continue her research. In addition to her work at the Stubbins lab she volunteered as an ecological cognition research assistant in the CORE lab with John Coley.
Josie Kummer ’26 Computer Science and Physics Josie is interested in the mathematical principles that explain the workings of the universe. She enjoys learning how equations can describe both everyday occurrences and more complex, non-intuitive phenomena. She wants to channel this curiosity into contributing to advancements in our understanding of the world around us and is particularly interested in quantum science. She completed an electromagnetics engineering co-op in the R&D division of Rogers Corporation. Currently, she is a research assistant in the lab of Nathan Israeloff studying graphene based sensors, and is a software developer at Code for Community.
Siima Machayo ’26, Behavioral Neuroscience
Siima is a former White House intern in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. She is the Mentorship Coordinator for the COS Student Diversity Advisory Council where she maintains communication with the Harvard Medical School to coordinate the Mediment mentorship program. She is currently an undergraduate research assistant in the lab of Rebecca Shansky, where she studies the relationships between neural structure and function when both males and females experience aversive events
