In May of this year, we announced that SnapTravel would be partnering with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program to create two Fellowships — the SnapTravel Fellowship Awards. This initiative was spearheaded by Henry Shi, our co-founder and CTO, who recently graduated from the program and saw both a need and an opportunity to give back. The program itself is led by a Top 10 school for Computer Science, and can be completed entirely online for less than $8000 USD.

“For me, it’s incredibly important to pay forward my experiences. With a program like OMSCS, we know that fellowships like this are meaningful for students who work and want to pursue their dreams and ambitions, regardless of their unique backgrounds.” — Henry Shi

These Fellowships are the first of their kind, and were created to benefit students who identify as belonging to underrepresented communities in STEM fields, as well as students exhibiting entrepreneurial spirit. The selection committee for these Fellowships consisted of Shi and the SnapTravel team, joined by Natalie Luu. Natalie holds both a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Engineering from Stanford University, and led Admissions at Y Combinator prior to joining VC fund Lightspeed as a Partner. With her strong academic background and experience supporting and now funding world-class startups, Natalie was an obvious partner for SnapTravel to bring onboard.

Without further ado, we would like to announce the recipients of the 2018 SnapTravel Fellowship Awards for OMSCS Students: Rafiya Javed and Yali Ren!

Rafiya Javed (left) and Yali Ren (right), recipients of SnapTravel’s 2018 OMSCS Fellowships

Rafiya Javed

Rafiya Javed is the recipient of the 2018 fellowship for entrepreneurial spirit. This award is designed to, “recognize and reward a student who is pursuing their OMSCS degree while founding their own startup, or pursuing other entrepreneurial activities.” Javed is the founder of Shout Health, a navigation software that helps healthcare providers direct their patients to community resources and address their social determinants of health. The Georgia Tech Create-X accelerator program provided Javed’s team with the initial funds and guidance to start her company. Prior to launching her startup and enrolling in the OMSCS program, Javed completed both her undergraduate degree in Physics and her M.D. medical degree. Shout Health is now performing a pilot study, jointly funded by the American Academy of Pediatrics, taking place at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Javed is optimistic that this proof-of-concept will help her team tackle enormous public health issues in ways that are beneficial to both patients and the providers that care for them.

Yali Ren