District 1 presents Sruthi Kurada as 2022 Zonta International Young Women in Public Affairs Awardee

Zonta District 1 Governor Donna Sroka recently presented Sruthi Kurada with the Zonta International 2022 Young Women in Public Affairs (YWPA) Award. Nominated by the Zonta Club of Quaboag Valley, USA, Sruthi is passionate about applying computer science to aid the healthcare and biotechnology sector.

In high school, Sruthi was a student researcher at the BayesMendel Lab at Harvard Medical School, working on developing a novel all-cancer risk assessment model. She is also an advocate for democratizing access to STEM education opportunities. Towards this goal, she founded MetroHacks EmpowHer, a year-long team competition for high school girls to create a computer science project that benefits their community.

Now a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, Sruthi is interested in pursuing machine learning applications to aid the healthcare and biotechnology sector. Ultimately, she looks forward to utilizing the entrepreneurial skillset she developed while leading her research projects and founding EmpowHer to serve her community through education and technology. 

Sruthi is a great role model for girls interested in public service and STEM vocations. She will create a video with fellow awardees to promote the YWPA award in District 1 and beyond. Empowering women and girls through education has long been a tenet for District 1, and it will continue to be as they work to deliver on the goal of Zonta to build a better world for women and girls.