Top Undergraduates Honored as Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars

When Abigail Shea ’27 was memorizing all the countries and capitals in Africa, she didn’t know how much her sixth-grade social studies teacher would influence the trajectory of her life.

“I might not have appreciated it as much when I was 12 years old, but Mr. MacGregor saw academic and even leadership potential in me. He always pushed me to be more outgoing and engage with other class members,” said Shea, an aspiring cancer researcher who credits her middle school teacher with helping her develop self-confidence. “I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to say thank you for the way that he shaped my life.”

The power of that kind of mentorship is precisely what the Merrill Presidential Scholars program was created to celebrate. 

Established through a generous gift of the late publisher Philip Merrill and his family, the program highlights the University of Maryland’s highest-achieving seniors, plus the faculty and K-12 teachers whose mentorship made their academic success possible. Their support will be honored in a special ceremony and workshop on Friday — an annual tradition that helps strengthen collaboration between the university and K-12 schools. 

“Mentorship is an indispensable part of everyone's academic journey, including my own. Countless individuals contribute to our pursuit of excellence and deserve our thanks and recognition,” said President Darryll J. Pines. “Philip Merrill and his family have invested in supporting the teachers who push us to take on new challenges, inspire us to set new goals and discover talents we never knew we had.”

This year’s 18 scholars are committed to a variety of causes and career goals, ranging from fire protection to post-quantum cryptography. One student created a group for local refugee youth at a nearby middle school. Another is a ballerina and physics major whose research has spanned climate computing and gravitational waves.  

In addition to internships and challenging coursework, the students were involved in a range of campus activities, including one scholar who designed and constructed a $20,000 makerspace renovation on campus. 

“These students’ achievements are a testament to the power of teachers and mentors,” said William A. Cohen, associate provost and dean for undergraduate studies. “Yet when we celebrate students, we rarely recognize their mentors. That’s one reason the Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars program is so distinctive. Since Philip and Eleanor Merrill created it in 2004, it has built a community of scholars, faculty members and K-12 teachers who celebrate mentoring the next generation.”

The event on Friday at University House offers each student a chance to talk about how their mentors guided, tutored and challenged them in big and small ways.

Madiha Rehman ’27 will share how her high school Spanish teacher, Christine Bonner, had a teaching style and sense of humor that encouraged her to embrace her mistakes, which helped her navigate different Spanish dialects and inspired her to study abroad in Panama, Guatemala, and — as a Gilman scholar — in Cuba.

“Part of learning to speak a language is making mistakes, and I think she taught me to laugh at myself more,” said Rehman, who has also presented research on drinking water at global conferences under the guidance of instructor Sasha Koo-Oshima as part of the UMD Fellows Program.

Vardaan Srivastava hopes to attend law school and build a career “answering interesting questions with data.” He is grateful to School of Public Policy faculty member Clay Ramsay — who began mentoring him in opinion polling during a high school internship and later taught a UMD course emphasizing collaborative problem-solving — and to Emily Roberts, his high school calculus teacher.

“She taught me to break down a problem, to ask: what is my goal, and what do I already know? What’s the first step here?” said Srivastava, who still relies on the problem-solving skills he learned in her class. “Even when I’ve not been doing calculus, when I’m faced with ordinary problems, just out living life or in my other classes, I lean back on her process.”

This is the third time that a Merrill Presidential Scholar has honored Roberts, who teaches at Marriotts Ridge High School in Marriottsville.

The 2026-27 Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars are: 

Juliette Leeth (English)
Teacher Mentor: Christine Smithson, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Bethesda, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Justin Lohr*, Department of English
*Professor Lohr was named a faculty mentor by a Merrill Scholar in 2021-22.

Maxine Poe-Jensen (English and Classical Languages & Literatures)
Teacher Mentor: Inna Kunz, Easton High School, Easton, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Randy Ontiveros*, Department of English
*Professor Ontiveros was named a faculty mentor by a Merrill Scholar in 2024-25.

Vardaan Srivastava (Economics and Government & Politics)
Teacher Mentor: Emily Roberts*, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Clay Ramsay, Center for International and Security Studies Maryland (CISSM)
*Ms. Roberts was named a teacher mentor by Merrill Scholars in 2019-20 and 2024-25.

Isabel Roldan (Psychology and Criminology & Criminal Justice)
Teacher Mentor: Marta Lucía Arévalo Rabe, Colegio APDE Entrevalles, Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala
Faculty Mentor: Linda Zou, Department of Psychology

Liesl Tran (Hearing and Speech Science)
Teacher Mentor: Jennifer Hundertmark, Resurrection Lutheran School, Cary, N.C.
Faculty Mentor: Rochelle Newman*, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences
*Professor Newman was named a faculty mentor by a Merrill Scholar in 2011-12.

Giana Colonna (Marketing and Management)
Teacher Mentor: Andrea Correia, Barrington High School, Barrington, R.I.
Faculty Mentor: Mary Beth Furst, Marketing Department

Krish Deshpande (Finance and Operations Management & Business Analytics)
Teacher Mentor: Rory Hart, Hun School of Princeton, Princeton, N.J.
Faculty Mentor: Jesse Kellner, Management and Organization Department

Emily Greenwald (Information Systems and Marketing)
Teacher Mentor: Jesse Anderson, Saint Paul’s School for Girls, Timonium, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Fox Troilo, QUEST Honors Program

Fahran Bajaj (Mathematics and Computer Science)
Teacher Mentor: Ryan Normandin, Newton South High School, Newton, Mass.
Faculty Mentor: Gorjan Alagic, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS)

Sophiya Mehra (Physics and Astronomy)
Teacher Mentor: Rita Korsunsky, Lynbrook High School, San Jose, Calif.
Faculty Mentor: Victor Galitski, Department of Physics

Abigail Shea (Biological Sciences and Spanish Language & Literature)
Teacher Mentor: James MacGregor, Mayfield Woods Middle School, Elkridge, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Kenneth Frauwirth, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics

Raymond Guzzone (Mechanical Engineering)
Teacher Mentor: Jonathan Liston, Henry E. Lackey High School, Indian Head, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Michael Galczynski*, College of Engineering Keystone Program
*Professor Galczynski was named a faculty mentor by a Merrill Scholar in 2021-22.

Emily Ho (Fire Protection Engineering)
Teacher Mentor: Curtis Hart-Southworth, Winston Churchill High School, Potomac, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Rosalie Hrybyk, Department of Fire Protection Engineering

Anthony Alberto Umanzor-Rojas (Information Science)
Teacher Mentor: Ozena Upsher, Parkdale High School, Riverdale, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Pamela Duffy, College of Information

Mara Bell (Journalism)
Teacher Mentor: Chimène Kacko, Urbana High School, Ijamsville, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Jodi McFarland Friedman, Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Madiha Rehman (Global Health and Public Policy)
Teacher Mentor: Christine Bonner, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, Md.
Faculty Mentor: Sasha Koo-Oshima, UMD Fellows Program

Rell Trivits (Environmental Science and Policy)
Teacher Mentor: Sara O’Connor, St. Andrew’s School, Middletown, Del.
Faculty Mentor: Arielle Wharton, Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health

Srinidhi Gubba (Individual Studies and Computer Science)
Teacher Mentor: John Plunkett, Bethany Elementary School, Beaverton, Ore.
Faculty Mentor: Deb Niemeier, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering