Shihadah Saleem
Shihadah Saleem is currently the Director of Youth Programs and Pathways at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in Queens, NY. She works with a diverse and dedicated team of people to provide NYC high school and college students with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) focused workforce and youth development opportunities through NYSCI's Science Career Ladder, Explainer program and free teen events. Shihadah is a committed board member of the National Girls Collaborative Project and co-chair of the STEM PUSH Network's Steering Committee. Shihadah loves singing, dancing, hanging with family and friends, gaming on her XBOX (first-person shooters is her jam), and cool fashion and beauty!
Renuka Gentela
Renuka Gentela (she/her) serves as the YAB Team Lead this year. She graduated with her BA in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley last summer, and is currently interning as a neuroscience research assistant at UCSF during her gap year while applying to medical schools. She is passionate about women’s rights and supporting marginalized groups in healthcare, and is currently involved in event programming for a nonprofit supporting the unhoused in the South Bay, outreach and training to be a counselor for a local domestic violence shelter, and volunteering at a free clinic in San Francisco. When she is not busy with work, she loves trying out new vegan recipes, portrait painting, teaching herself Indian Carnatic music, and exploring SF with friends.
Jamora Arroyo-Jefferson
Jamora Arroyo-Jefferson is a sophomore at Cornell University’s College of Life Sciences, majoring in Agricultural Science, focused on Sustainable Agriculture, with aspirations of becoming a NASA Space Farmer.
She is an Ambassador Scholar for the New York State Agricultural Society, an Agricultural Science Fellow at Cornell University’s Dilmun Hill Farm, and will spend the upcoming summer as an Agricultural Research Intern at the University of Ghana in West Africa, focusing on Crop Science and Food Systems.
As a member of national organizations like the National Girls Collaborative Project, the Afterschool Alliance, STEM Next Opportunity Fund Flight Crew, and the Collective for Youth Empowerment in STEM & Society (CYESS), Arroyo-Jefferson has had the honor of serving as a STEM advocate and encouraging youth across the country to pursue their own interests in the sciences.
Arroyo-Jefferson is also a Co-Principal Investigator on a 3-year grant funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The project, titled "Beyond Individual Impacts: Identifying Characteristics of Youth STEM Programs that Yield Community-Level Impacts", will examine youth programs operating at the intersection of out-of-school-time or afterschool STEM learning, teen leadership, and community engagement by documenting the broader systemic impact of afterschool programs on children’s long-term STEM involvement.
Anupa V.
Anupa is a high school junior from Virginia who is passionate about environmental preservation and hopes to study environmental policy in the future. She has furthered conservation efforts in her local community, including helping her team earn funding for a compost program through the Chesapeake Bay Caring for Our Watersheds program. She is also dedicated to advocacy and practices public speaking by competing on the national Lincoln-Douglas debate circuit. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the guitar and reading a good book.
Renata L.
Renata is a mechanical engineering student on the pre-medicine track who is passionate about using engineering and science to solve real-world health issues. She conducts research studying antibacterial nanofibers and their potential medical applications, a project that earned her first place at the Rio Grande Valley Regional Science Fair. Renata loves making STEM more approachable for younger students and hopes to inspire more girls to see themselves as future scientists and engineers who will shape a more sustainable future.
Hansa Giridhar
Hansa is a college student with a strong interest in mathematics and scientific research. She is the author of the 'For Kids' series available on Amazon worldwide and the founder of 'Leadstreams', an organization to help promote confidence and communication skills in young people. She also has a strong interest in youth advocacy and has worked with many Girls in STEM organizations such as Girlstart and NGCP (The National Girls Collaborative Project.) She aspires to make a difference in the world by spreading awareness about issues in the STEM community, and helping to bridge the gender gap. In her free time she writes, reads, dances, and volunteers at libraries. She is also a 2025 STEM Next Flight Crew member, representing Arkansas.
Reeti R.
Reeti is from New Jersey and is passionate about educational equity in STEM. She founded STEM 4-Her, an initiative that provides free coding and robotics workshops for girls, especially from underserved school districts, to encourage greater female participation in STEM fields. Reeti enjoys programming, math, and problem-solving; she also competes in computer science and math olympiads and is among the top scorers in the United States. Reeti conducts research in computational biology and biomedical imaging, exploring algorithms to advance health science. She has been recognized as a Flight Crew member for Million Girls Moonshot and as a recipient of the NCWIT AiC National Award and the NCWIT Impact Award.
Programs and Initiatives
