NIATI (NIYATI) KOTTURY
FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO)

Student Researcher, High School Student, Published Author, NCWIT Awardee, Clinical Intern and STEM Leader.

I am currently a junior at Briar Woods High School and I co-founded a nonprofit organization STEMStart to do my share to close the STEM Gap in Loudoun County and beyond.

I got interested in STEM with Odyssey of the Mind in elementary school, and then I went on to learn Scratch, FLL, and FTC. I learned about the PBASIC robot programming language, and then progressed into Python through Codesters, HTML website development, and later Java and mobile app development in my middle school years.

I co-established and led six after-school student clubs at my middle school ERMS (Eagle Ridge Middle school), including the Technology Student Association (TSA) and a Verizon-sponsored Red and Black Robotics Camp under Verizon Innovative Learning Program. I have participated and won in numerous state and national level STEM competitions like American Computer Science League (ACSL), Technology Student Association (TSA), First Lego League (FLL), You Be the Chemist (YBTC), Math Counts, Math Olympiad, North South Foundation (NSF) Brain Bee, and National Science League (NSL) Science Bee to name a few. 

I’m currently participating in multiple after-school student clubs in my high school including ACSL (American Computer Science League)- President, HOSA (Future Medical Professionals)-Vice President Events and Outreach, TSA (Technology Students Association)-Parliamentarian , National Honor Society (NHS), National Science Honor Society (NSHS) and American Red Cross.

I have won National Council for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing award for NOVA-DC region for 2020-2021 for my contributions in STEM.

NIRAV KOTTURY
CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER (CIO)

Student Researcher, High School Student, Published Author, VA Governor School Inductee, Techie and STEM leader.

I am a junior at the Academy of Science (Academies of Loudoun) and Briar Woods, and co-founded a nonprofit STEMStart to do my share to close the STEM skills gap in Loudoun County and beyond.

I got interested in STEM with Odyssey of the Mind in Elementary School. Then, I went on to learn the basics of Scratch, FLL, and FTC, along with the PBASIC programming languages, then progressed into Python through Codesters, HTML website development, and later Java and mobile app development in my middle school years.

I co-established and led six after-school student clubs at my middle school ERMS (Eagle Ridge Middle school), including Technology Student Association (TSA) and Verizon-sponsored Red and Black Robotics camps with Verizon sponsorship under Verizon Innovative Learning program. I have participated and won in numerous state and national level STEM competitions like American Computer Science League (ACSL), Technology Student Association (TSA), First Lego League (FLL), VEX Robotics, You Be the Chemist (YBTC), Math Counts, Math Olympiad, North South Foundation (NSF) Science Bee, and National Science League (NSL) Science Bee to name a few.

I am currently participating in multiple after school student clubs in my home high school and at ACL including ACSL (American Computer Science League)- Co-President, HOSA (Future Medical Professionals)-Communications Director TSA (Technology Students Association)-Historian, National Honor Society (NHS), National Science Honor Society (NSHS), National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) Club founder at Academies of Loudoun (ACL)- Academies of Science (AOS).

 We are sixteen-year-old twins and Juniors at Academy of Science and Briar Woods, and we co-founded a nonprofit organization called STEMStart to do our bit to close the STEM skills gap in Loudoun County and beyond. Through STEMStart, we aim to empower students early by fostering STEM interests through local school chapter organizations, educational seminars, workshops and day camps. We help students from Elementary through High School experience science, technology, engineering, and math concepts first-hand through our programs so students can get their STEMStart, hone their STEM skills, become confident problem solvers and make an impact using their STEM skills.

As we grow, while our STEM interests are evolving, we share common interest of creating early STEM awareness opportunities for other students in Loudoun county and beyond so we can do our bit towards closing the STEM gap.