Anna Wang graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School (RHS) in 1979. Her teachers at Roosevelt provided the guidance, instruction, and freedom to let her reach out and explore many different directions. Her curiosity and love for the sciences led her to Harvard and MIT, where she earned her BA and PhD degrees.
Anna then embarked on adventures around the world where she studied ferrets, monkeys, fruit bats, marmosets, and learned about what makes the brains of each species unique. Through her faculty positions at Yale and Vanderbilt, she learned how to teach and how to talk about science in way that allowed students to think and to explore. Throughout all this, she learned that life’s challenges include the scientific, the societal, and the personal. Currently she studies sensation and cognition and develops brain-machine interfaces at Oregon Health & Science University and Zhejiang University in China.
Anna has a longstanding interest in supporting women working in the sciences, motivated by her struggles to make a consuming research program compatible with family and personal goals. The Anna Wang Roe Women in Science Scholarship is aimed at helping young women at RHS who want to make a difference in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). The number of scholarships vary. The approximate annual scholarship award is: $1,000.
Students must be a female graduating Senior attending Theodore Roosevelt High School. Students must have been enrolled in Theodore Roosevelt High School for at least one full year. Students must intend to enroll full-time at an accredited educational institution (Pell-eligible) that provides a program acceptable for full credit toward a bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline.
The selection of the recipient will be based on the following criteria: financial need, essay response, providing two (2) letters of recommendation from Roosevelt High School faculty, and the strength of the application.
Scholarship applications will be reviewed by teachers & guidance counselors at Theodore Roosevelt High School. Recommended candidates will then be forwarded to The Portage Foundation for approval by the Portage Foundation’s Board of Trustees. A personal interview may be required.