The AIAA Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2026 Roger W. Kahn Scholarships. Each of these impressive students will receive a $10,000 scholarship to support their education.
Aya Elamrani-Zerifi
From: Maryland
Attending in the Fall: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
I have wanted to go to space for as long as I can remember, and I have spent the last few years pursuing every opportunity in aerospace, flight, and research that I could find. In high school, I started my school’s Astronomy Club, was active in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and am finishing my private pilot license before leaving for college. In my sophomore year, I led a team through SWE to submit a proposal to the NASA TechRise Challenge, where we designed and launched a high-altitude balloon payload that used ferrofluid to capture microplastics from the stratosphere. That experience led me to the NASA SEES internship at UT Austin, where I worked on a propellant management device for cryogenic liquid fuel tanks. That same summer, I conducted asteroid orbital determination research at the University of Colorado Boulder through the Astrophysics Summer Science Program.
The following year, I was selected as one of four NASA interns nationwide to fly on a Zero-G parabolic research flight, where I investigated the thermocapillary effect as a passive method for controlling bubble movement in microgravity. Alongside my primary research, I flew outreach experiments for younger students and created educational materials to share space science with my community. I spent my final summer before senior year at the MIT Kavli Institute through the Research Science Institute, where I conducted research on chaotic exoplanet systems. Through these experiences, I have developed a strong interest in microgravity fluid dynamics and spacecraft design. At MIT, I plan to study aerospace engineering and continue this work, with the long-term goal of becoming an astronaut and mission specialist supporting missions to the moon and Mars.
Vishal Manikanden
From: Virginia
Attending in the Fall: Princeton University
Ever since my first interaction with LEGO robotics in elementary school, I have been fascinated by engineering. Years later, as an electrical engineering research intern at Cornell University, I worked on designing a magnetic levitation system capable of withstanding extremely high force on aircraft, allowing for navigation without GPS, and achieving extremely high feedback stability and oscillation frequency. As part of the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Mission at George Mason University, I conducted research focused on exoplanet detection and data analysis, analyzing light curves and transient data to characterize newly-detected exoplanets.
Driven by my personal curiosity, I co-founded a computer vision-based oral cancer detection platform focused on increasing accessibility to high-quality oral cancer detection, achieving over 97% precision. Our platform was featured on the local news for its potential in bringing high-quality diagnosis directly to patients. As the founder of EngiMentor, an organization with the goal of increasing engineering access and exposure for students of all backgrounds, I’ve been able to reach students passionate about using engineering to create change across the U.S. Through these experiences, I realized that my passion for engineering comes from designing autonomous systems for applications such as aircraft with electrical engineering. I aim to bridge these fields in my career, working to design systems that work autonomously through intelligent implementations of computer vision and control engineering, two fields that I am very passionate about.
Aoqi Xu
From: Georgia
Attending in the Fall: Georgia Tech
I was first inspired to pursue aerospace engineering after witnessing the launch of a Falcon 9 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. My passion for STEM is driven by a fascination with space, physics, and math, which has led me to explore various STEM activities, such as building model rockets, competing in robotics, and writing physics simulations in Python, including an orbital motion simulation numerically estimated using the Runge-Kutta methods. I also love to share my passion for STEM by serving as a teaching assistant for my school’s AP Calculus class and mentoring younger students on my robotics team.
I plan on studying aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech, where I intend to deepen my understanding of spacecraft systems, propulsion, and control. Long term, I hope to contribute to the development of spacecraft and technologies that advance space exploration.
Madison Nation
From: Colorado
Attending in the Fall: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida
From a very early age, I have been fascinated by mathematics and STEM subjects in school. My brother, Hayden, is my biggest inspiration for becoming a commercial airline pilot. After my first discovery flight with him, I truly fell in love with being inside the airplane. To prepare for my career in the aviation industry, I have started my private pilot training, shadowed at Frontier Airlines’ training simulators and flight operations at Denver International Airport, and completed an internship with Aims Community College’s Flight School dispatch team. As my first flight instructor, my brother has not only assisted me in taking the first steps toward earning my private pilot license, but he also inspired me to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, this fall.
Outside of my love of aviation, I have been a part of numerous clubs and activities, including Future Business Leaders of America, Distributive Education Clubs of America, Student Government, four years of varsity volleyball, and four years of varsity golf. During my senior year, I have had the amazing opportunity to tutor middle school students in mathematics through my high school’s National Honor Society program. In this program, I have not only helped students gain confidence in math but also helped them prepare for STEM courses in the future. This school year, I finished my volleyball career as a 4A Colorado state champion and plan to wrap up varsity golf at the 3A Colorado State Championship tournament in May. I can’t wait to further my education at Embry-Riddle and major in aeronautical science. I hope to not only fly alongside my family in the future, but also inspire other young girls to pursue their dreams in STEM-related fields.
The Roger W. Kahn Scholarship was created to honor the memory of Roger W. Kahn (1907–1962) and his passion for aviation and entertainment. Kahn spent the latter part of his career at Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation as a test pilot and then managed the technical service and sales division. In the 1940s, he was actively involved with the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (one of the predecessor organizations of AIAA) and later served as its vice president.
For more information on the Roger W. Kahn Scholarship, please visit aiaa.org/get-involved/k-12-students/scholarships/aiaa-roger-w-kahn-scholarship.
