3 Bergen College Students Named State STEM Scholars

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Three Bergen County residents were among 15 college students statewide to be named to the Governor's 2020 STEM Scholars Program.

The Governor's 2020 STEM Scholars Program assists high school and college students with research projects. It is a partnership between government agencies and privately-owned companies to help retain STEM-based students and foster STEM-related work in New Jersey.

Manuel Ackattupathil, Jean Pierre Alvarez, and Adelajda Turku is an engineering and math major at Bergen Community College (BCC). He hopes to create a "smart cane" that can detect objects within a certain field of view that can assist visually-impaired people as part of the program.

Ackattupathil is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and is president of BCC's STEM Student Union.

Alvarez, of Rochelle Park, is a recent graduate of BCC. He transferred to Rutgers University to major in aerospace engineering. He wants to work for NASA.

"I feel like my dreams are coming true," Alvarez said in a news release. "I am so lucky for being a part of this program, and for having been surrounded by such wonderful people that have been there for me through the whole process."

Turku is an Elmwood Park resident who hopes to attend medical school. She is a natural sciences and mathematics major who will lead a neuroscience project focusing on the effect of external stimuli on the human brain.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com