Somya Pandey is a junior at Raleigh Charter High School who really wants to do something about a problem that not enough people seem to care about: climate change. In the summer of 2018, she worked as an  intern at NASA, assisting on projects focused on satellites that gather vital information about our planet’s atmosphere. At NASA, she realized the importance of informing the public about how climate change has been rapidly changing our atmosphere, even over the last decade.

However, she’s not just crazy about changing people’s views on climate change, she also loves robotics. Somya is a member of FIRST Robotics team 5511, Cortechs Robotics, through which she helps design 120-pound robots that complete specific tasks within a time limit. She and her team competed at the Worlds Competition in 2017 where Cortechs won the Quality Award, and she’s been hoping to go back to compete on the international stage ever since. Somya believes that through robotics and other technology, like renewable energy, we can start to fix the massive problem that is climate change. She believes that young people like herself need to stay involved with fixing problems because “nobody else is going to fix it for us.” She strongly believes in fighting for what’s right, which is what led her to apply for this Fellowship. Somya knows she can make a difference in the public’s perception of climate change, and she’s excited to be part of a group that shares the same goals as her.