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Vineet Kosaraju has been selected as a 2015 Davidson Fellow

The Davidson Institute of Talent Development has announced the 2015 Davidson Fellows. Among the honorees is 16-year-old Vineet Kosaraju of Saratoga, Calif. Vineet won a $10,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship for his project, Towards Rational RNA Therapeutics: 3D RNA Engineering in a Massive Open Laboratory. He is one of only 20 students from across the country to receive this honor.

Vineet’s project focused on RNA, which is found everywhere in life from humans to bacteria. This molecule is relevant to current research not only because it is so prevalent in life, but also because it can be used to fight disease such as vision degeneration, create RNA vaccines, destroy viral genes, and combat cancer. However, it is being underutilized because trial and error is currently the method of choice to find new RNA therapeutics. Vineet created an interface that allows for the design of accurate 3D RNA molecules. “My project focuses on fixing the limitations of 2D RNA structuring by creating an interface to design 3D RNAs and discovering its folding rules so that scientists can design RNAs without using expensive trial and error processes,” Vineet said. “By analyzing RNA designs synthesized in vitro, I was able to create three rules that govern the stability of the tertiary structure, the first of their kind.”

Vineet is a rising senior at The Harker School in San Jose, Calif. Apart from learning from the advanced coursework at his high school, he enjoys his Stanford lab work, and volunteering and teaching at MathAndCoding, a non-profit he co-founded. Vineet hopes to attend a college that has, among numerous academic and extracurricular offerings, a strong computer science curriculum with an undergraduate research program.

Vineet serves on his local congresswoman’s student advisory board, and participates in his school’s Honor Council and Research Club. In 2014, he was a Siemens Competition regional finalist and has participated in the USA Computing Olympiad Gold Division for the past couple of years. When he is not busy with school and research, Vineet enjoys hanging out with friends and family, playing the piano, and enjoying a round of golf with his brother.

Sreya Vemuri wins prestigious $25,000 prize for work in math, science

Judges were impressed by Sreya Vemuri's research into how light travels through optic fibers.

Sreya Vemuri never expected that her research into how light travels through optic fibers would yield a result, let alone a $25,000 prize.

The 17-year-old Carmel High School student said she was stunned to learn she was named one of the 2015 Davidson Fellows by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a national organization devoted to nurturing intelligent youths and providing opportunities for them to develop their talents.

Vemuri is one of only 20 students across the country to receive this honor.

“I really just submitted it on a whim,” the senior said. “When I first started the research, I didn’t even expect to get results. I was really, really surprised when they informed me that I won.”

Vemuri, who has had a lifelong interest in math and science, said she is curious about the world, and that inquisitive spirit fueled her project. Vemuri’s work has applications in many areas of optics, such as making lasers, and has important applications in designing computers.

One of the judges who reviewed her work said it was on par with that of a college senior or graduate student, said Tacie Moessner, Davidson Fellows Scholarship program manager.

“One judge said that Sreya’s project is one of the best fundamental projects he’s ever reviewed — he’s been a judge for many years,” Moessner said. “Her application speaks truth about the quantum world, and that is of interest to any civilization, human or otherwise.

“That means it has huge implications for the future.”

Vemuri’s project stood out because of its subject matter, Moessner said. It was extremely complex and was a mathematical feat, she said.

“She was able to focus her research on this one particular problem and not get sidetracked or distracted by other things,” Moessner said. “She was able to have this narrow focus and delve deeply into it.”

Vemuri, who is the second Carmel student to place in the competition since 2011, said she’s undecided about where she’ll attend college and will use the $25,000 prize to help pay her tuition.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve done math competitions, and I’ve been fascinated by how you can solve such complex problems using mathematics,” she said. “I’ve discovered that it’s exciting to solve an unknown problem that no one knows the answer to.

“For a moment, you’re the only person in the world who knows this science and this knowledge.”