The Girls STEAM Institute™ is grateful to the men and women who used their vision, knowledge, and innovation to create a better society for our world through new technologies, products, and services designed to increase our curiosity, empathy, and global understanding to achieve more freedom,hope, and equity for our world’s citizens.
2024 Recipients
Amanda Ong – Servant Leader Honoree
Amanda Ong joined Girls STEAM Institute as a student 8 years ago and is honored to have the opportunity to return and speak at the 10th Anniversary Gala. She recently joined Microsoft as a software engineer after graduating with her Masters in Computer Science from the University of Washington. In addition to computer science, Amanda is particularly passionate about computer science education, working as both a teaching assistant and lecturer for programming courses at the University of Washington, as well as a volunteer teacher with the TEALS program. She is energized by finding new ways to help students understand concepts and believes that the best way to learn is through teaching.
Sana Shah – 2024 US Innovation Honoree
Sana Shah, Senior at Catlin-Gable High School, is an award- winning individual who has been recognized numerous times for her leadership as a robotics team member. VR Team earning first place in a global team competition, and her innovation to help OHSU develop a solution that mitigates ergonomic health challenges for Ultrasound techs by using a mixed reality solution, which is now common practice for the hospital procedure. Sana was able to present this new procedure at the SPIE Radiology Meeting in San Diego, California, February 2023, as the youngest presenter to the conference. GSI awarded Sana Shah with the 2024 Innovation Award, April 2024. In September, 2024, Sana completed an internship at Broad Institute MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Prabhleen Kaur Lamba – GSI Servant Leader
Prabhleen Kaur Lamba is a Senior at Carnegie-Mellon School of Computer Science majoring in artificial intelligence. Prabhleen has been a servant leader ever since she joined GSI in 2017. She has volunteered as a mentor and helped with social media and digital marketing and coached some of the STEAMer Challenge teams. Prabhleen is an author of She Plays to Win book and an award-winning basketball player. She completed internships at Uber and is currently a Teacher’s Assistant for Introduction to Programming at Carnegie Mellon University.
Ariana Lissak- GSI International Innovation Vanguard Award
Ariana Lissak is currently employed by Athene Health. She is a graduate of Neuva High School & college graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) with a degree in Computer Science. While a student at Neuva High School, Ariana took formal classes in robotics and mechatronics and founded the First Robotics team at Nueva High School where she programmed robotic vehicles. At RPI, she worked at the Center for Automation Technologies and Systems.as an undergraduate researcher and developed a passion for understanding other cultures through immersion. This took her to study Kung Fu in Dengfeng China and study Mandarin in Shanghai. Ariana now holds a Certificate in HSK-3 Chinese Proficiency , sponsored by the Chinese government.
In 2019, she participated in the IRES Program in Cambodia, using her skills and knowledge of creating high-density 3D point clouds of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) bombs to give operators a better view of the object and more understanding of the claw in relation to EO. It will give the operator more perspective through distance in retrieving unexploded armaments buried since Viet Nam War in the 1960s-1970s. The IRES – International Research Education Students Program is funded for humanitarian purposes by the National Science Foundation to make innovative positive changes in the world.
Chloe Dayton – Social Impact Honoree
Chloe Dayton is known as the “Little Cherokee Girl.” She is a long-time participant, mentor, and speaker for Girls STEAM Institute. Chloe Dayton is a Cherokee Nation citizen from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She is a student at the Cherokee Nation Immersion School.
An accomplished storyteller in both English and Cherokee, she won first place in the Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Faire for Spoken Language and has been featured on Osiyo TV, the PBS Special “Native America,” and in the New York Times. Chloe uses Virtual Reality to teach Cherokee to people all over the world. She loves to teach the Cherokee language and she also loves to sings Cherokee hymns and play piano and fiddle!
Billie Bryant Schultz – Catalyst for Change Award
Billie Bryant Schultz is a pioneering entrepreneur and the Chief Executive Officer of CESCO, Inc., based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. With over 39 years of experience, she has transformed CESCO from a sales and service organization of used equipment into a nationwide expert in IT equipment, software solutions, supplies, and managed print services.
Under Billie’s leadership, CESCO has become a collaborative technology innovator, serving as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for major brands like Xerox, Lexmark, HP, Brother, and Zebra. The company specializes in Managed Document Services, including managed print, mobile print, and digitized workflow solutions.
Billie’s journey into entrepreneurship began unexpectedly in the wake of a family illness. Her vision and creative skills enabled her to navigate CESCO through significant transitions, embracing digital transformation in the printing industry. Beyond her role at CESCO, Billie served as President and CEO of Technology Interchange Resources (TIR) from 1997 to 2007, where she oversaw the training of over 26,000 DoD buyers and small business owners on electronic processes for government business.
A strong advocate for women entrepreneurs, Billie is actively involved in implementing STEM and STEAM mentoring programs for young girls, aiming to foster a diverse future workforce in technology and other industries. Her educational background includes studies at the WBENC Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, the ICIC Small Business Growth Program, and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program.
Billie’s contributions to business and women’s economic development have been recognized with several honors, including the Enterprising Women of the Year Award in 2015 for Business Development and Growth.
Suzanne J. Lackman – Pioneering Spirit Award
Suzanne J. Lackman is the Co-Founder of ASTRA Society International and the Girls STEAM Institute. She is a long time civic leader and screenplay writer in the Portland, Oregon, community. Along with her twin sister, Diane McClelland, the two founded ASTRA in 2014 to mentor and inspire young girls to develop innovative ideas in STEAM fields. It was so successful, the two launched the non-profit, Girls STEAM Institute, and have been changing lives ever since.
2023 Recipients
Dr. Thomas Furness III – Heart for Humanity Award
Dr. Tom Furness is a pioneering figure in virtual and augmented reality, widely recognized as the “Grandfather of Virtual Reality.” With over 50 years of experience in the field, he has made significant contributions to the development and application of VR technology.
Dr. Furness is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, where he founded the Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HITLab) in 1989. He has also established HITLab affiliates in Australia and New Zealand. His academic career is complemented by his extensive experience in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked on advanced cockpit and virtual interface technologies.
As an inventor and entrepreneur, Dr. Furness has founded or co-founded over 25 companies in the VR/AR space. He holds over 20 patents and has received numerous awards for his groundbreaking work, including the IEEE Virtual Reality Career Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the SPIE.
Dr. Furness is deeply committed to using virtual reality for social good. He co-founded the Virtual World Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to leveraging VR technology to address global challenges and improve lives. His vision extends beyond technological innovation to encompass education, healthcare, and humanitarian applications of VR. Throughout his career, Dr. Furness has been a mentor and inspiration to many in the field of virtual and augmented reality. His ongoing work continues to shape the future of immersive technologies and their potential to transform various aspects of human life and society.
2019 Recipients
Ray Kurzweil – Flame Award
Ray Kurzweil is an American inventor, computer scientist, futurist, and author, born on February 12, 1948. He is renowned for his contributions to various fields, including optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. Kurzweil has authored several influential books on artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and the technological singularity, positioning himself as a prominent advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements.
Throughout his career, he has received significant recognition for his achievements, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 1999, the $500,000 Lemelson–MIT Prize in 2001, and election to the National Academy of Engineering in the same year. In 2002, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and holds 21 honorary doctorates.
Among his notable inventions are the Kurzweil Reading Machine for the blind (1976), Kurzweil Music Systems (1982), Kurzweil Applied Intelligence (1987), and Kurzweil Educational Systems (1996). In 2012, he joined Google as a director of engineering, focusing on machine learning and language processing. Kurzweil is well-known for his predictions about technological advancement and the future of humanity, particularly his concept of the “Law of Accelerating Returns” and his views on the technological singularity.