These exceptional future engineers and computer scientists were honored for their pursuits of engineering projects, their understanding of engineering principles, their roles in inspiring young girls to pursue engineering, and their contributions to the communities they live in.
SWENext Global Innovator Award Recipients
The SWENext Global Innovator Award recognizes outstanding young women shaping the future of SWE who have demonstrated a commitment to bettering the lives of women in STEM.
Teresa is a rising senior from New York with a strong passion for engineering and mathematics. She is a co-inventor of two granted US patents in the field of optics and is the only high-school student to receive the 2022 SPIE (Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship. In addition, She is a two-times AIME qualifier (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) and two-times Math Prize for Girls Contest qualifier. Teresa aspires to pursue an academic career in electrical and computer engineering.
Geetika, an aspiring biomedical and computer engineer from Indiana, has a strong passion for engineering and enjoys engaging with the field through organizations like SWE. She is also able to share and grow her love of engineering with her peers through being president of her local SWENext club. After graduating high school, she hopes to pursue Computer Engineering.
Genevieve, an aspiring robotics and software engineer from Nevada, has been inspiring youth to embrace STEM through a multitude of initiatives for over six years. By building partnerships throughout her community, Genevieve has benefitted first-hand from strong SWE mentors. As an aspiring technologist, Genevieve looks forward to merging her business and STEM acumen.
Ankita, an aspiring computer science and software engineer from California, is the co-founder and president of Digital Educate, a global non-profit organization focused on bridging access to education and increasing gender diversity in STEM. During the pandemic, she has taught free programming and coding classes to over 500 students from 10 states and 3 countries. Ankita is the president of her school’s Girls Who Code club, where she mentors girls on computer science skills. She is also a 2022 SWENext High School Leadership Academy ambassador and a recipient of the 2022 WE Local SWENext STEM in Action Award.
SWENext Global Innovator Award Honorable Mentions
Ellee is an aspiring biomedical and computer engineer from Pennsylvania. She is the President and Founder of her high school’s SWENext Club and serves on the TechGirlz Teen Advisory board, leading and organizing computer science classes for middle school students.
Kavya an avid STEM enthusiast from California, is a young researcher interested in computational biology, materials science, and bioengineering. She has worked on interdisciplinary projects combining computer science and 3D imaging to create solutions to everyday prevalent problems. These individual projects have led to publications and awards for her contribution to the young STEM community. Her favorite subjects in school are Biology and Calculus.
Sophia is a rising senior and aspiring mechanical engineer from Nevada. She is the captain of her robotics team and has led her team to win the State Championship four times. In her free time, Sophia loves to volunteer, paint and read.
SWENext Community Award Recipients
The SWENext Community Award emphasizes the impact SWENexters can have in their communities to solve real-world problems related to sustainable development.
Community Award – Overall Winner
Prisha is an aspiring inventor from Arizona who uses her passion of creating solutions to solve our world’s largest problems. Her most recent inventions consist of a Wildfire Prevention Detection and Suppression System, Self-cleaning Solar Panel, Aqua Saver (an arduino based leak and overflow detection device) and a Solar Powered Drone.
Community Award – Additional Recipients
Kelaiah is a rising Junior from Washington, D.C. In 2021, she joined her school’s Cyber Club and practiced her skills in cybersecurity. Her team competed, with her working with packet tracer and Linux, and placed 2nd in the competition.
Madeline is a rising junior from California, and her favorite classes have always been math and science. Her future goal is to become a materials, chemical or environmental engineer. She is really interested in potential solutions for clean water, conservation, and clean energy. This summer she plans to study computer coding and volunteer at a hospice care center.
SWENext Clubs Best Practices Award
The SWENext Clubs Best Practices Award recognizes outstanding SWENext Clubs around the world who have developed exceptional “best practices” in engineering engagement to share with and advance the SWENext Clubs program as a whole.
Benjamin Franklin High School SWENext Club was founded in 2017 and currently has thirteen members ranging from 9th to 12th grade. As a club that works out of Louisiana, a state currently ranked 48th in education and 2nd in highest poverty rates, they understand the importance of providing sustainable, accessible, and equitable STEM opportunities to their community. This year, Benjamin Franklin High School SWENext Club hosted a number of engineering events to help girls engage with STEM, including a virtual Forensics STEM challenge, a Robot Simulation Challenge, a Computational Thinking Challenge, and a virtual Hack-a-thon where students were tasked with solving a programming challenge.
Congratulations to all of the SWENext award recipients. We are so proud of you!
The SWENext Awards program is made possible through generous program support by ExxonMobil Foundation 
