Niyati Kottury, STEMStart Founder and CEO won 2021 National Council for Women In Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing Award for VA DC Region for her contributions in STEM. Niyati is an enthusiastic and determined student who believes in sharing her knowledge. While leading her middle school STEM clubs, she spotted an opportunity to contribute towards closing the STEM gap. Under Niyati’s leadership, ERMS (her middle school) was represented at TSA Nationals in Biotechnology (2017, 2018) and High School (2019, 2021) as VA state winning team with several notable accomplishments at state level in Medical Technology, VEX Robotics, Digital Photography, STEM Animation, and Structural Design. Niyati also founded a non-profit STEMStart (https://www.stemstart.org/) in 2018 with the mission to close the STEM gap. She continues to extend her breath and depth of STEM knowledge with her hands-on research and coursework at high school. She has been very effective in leading STEM based events via Boot Camps and recruiting change agents in actively working towards closing the STEM gap.