Over the 7 week application period, the BlackBerry Scholars Program received over 500 applications from women across 43 countries. BlackBerry is thrilled to announce the talented and passionate scholarship recipients of the BlackBerry Scholars Program.
Ten young women have been selected earlier last month to receive full, four-year scholarships to pursue degrees in STEM-related fields to inspire more women to enter the mobile computing industry and pursue careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The recipients will receive full, four-year university tuition scholarships to the school of their choice for degrees in STEM-related fields, as well as mentorship and professional opportunities. Empowered by BlackBerry’s support, the young women will not only advance their own careers, but also help inspire and encourage women in their communities and around the world to pursue STEM careers.
“The BlackBerry Scholars Program was designed to inspire women in STEM fields, but it was the judges who were truly inspired,” said Alicia Keys, BlackBerry Global Creative Director. “Women are vastly underrepresented in STEM industries, and collectively we need to do everything we can to encourage more women to pursue careers in these fields. We’re proud these bright scholars will blaze a trail and open doors for women in technology, mobile computing, science and much more.”
In addition to meeting competitive academic criteria, showcasing extracurricular involvement and providing recommendation letters, applicants were asked to explain how they plan to make their mark on the world, highlight someone who has inspired them, and explore what a future in mobile computing means to them.
The selected BlackBerry scholars and their chosen degrees are the following:
- Katherine Chen (United States), Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Harvard College in the U.S.
- Tafadzwa Makaza (South Africa), Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Coventry University in the U.K.
- Anastasia Santasheva (Canada), Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada
- Tian Qi (Dinah) Shi (Canada), Software Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada
- Leah Clark (United Kingdom), Computer Science at Durham University in the U.K.
- Rozie Yeghiazarian (United States), Mechanical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the U.S.
- Khuyen Duong (Vietnam), Computer Science at Oklahoma State University in the U.S.
- Aneesha Kommineni (United States), Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin in the U.S.
- Sravya Vishnubhatla (United States), Biological Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S.
- Xiao Yan (Cheyenne) Guo (Canada), Mathematics at the University of Waterloo in Canada
Each recipient was chosen by a panel of inspirational and accomplished women leaders in STEM based on their academic merit and passion for entering the mobile computing industry. This panel, headed by Alicia Keys, included:
- Barbara Stymiest, Chairperson, BlackBerry (Canada)
- Shinta W. Dhanuwardoyo, Founder & Chairwoman of Bubu.com (Indonesia)
- Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, Executive Director, Orange (France)
- Linda D. Hallman, Executive Director and CEO, American Association of University Women (USA)
- Sara Martinez Tucker, President and CEO, National Math and Science Initiative (USA)
- Belinda Parmar, Founder and CEO, Lady Geek (UK)
BlackBerry recognizes the role and responsibility to help grow and develop the next generation of women in mobile computing and STEM fields and look forward to helping these young women influence mobile computing and inspire more young women to pursue careers in STEM fields.
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Congratulations to all the scholarship grantees! Way to go!
Congratulations to all of them! Make a mark ladies! 🙂 It’s a rare chance, so do your best!
This is the kind of scholarship that I am on the look out for. My daughter plans to getting a STEM related degree in the future.
that’s great of blackberry to sponsor scholarships worldwide to any school of recipient’s choice
This is very inspiring and helps motivate all women to work harder in order to have their own way of living. Blackberry is such a wonderful company for this kind of scholarship they offer for those who deserves the scholarship.
It is great to know that they are sponsoring scholars!
this is such a great thing to do for blackberry! Empower woman all over the world sounds very nice!
wow! lucky scholars and I salute the brainchild of this project.
That’s so nice of them. Congratulations to all the lucky and blessed scholars. I am sure it will help a lot…:)
Congratulations! Being a scholar is a great opportunity.
I still like BlackBerry.
Even though gloomy reports about this iconic smartphone brand penetrated the media, I still consider it among the most-favored brands.
The CSR activity of BlackBerry is for me commendable. People should not be biased about other smartphone brands and OS.