Maria Nikolaitchik and Karthik Sellakumaran Latha honored teachers and professors who guided, inspired, tutored and challenged them during their academic journeys.

Outstanding graduating seniors at the University of Maryland have analyzed drought patterns, researched diabetes and tutored elementary school students in math. One plans to be an eye surgeon; another, a human rights attorney.

But as varied as their aspirations and accomplishments are, each of the 20 students chosen as 2023-24 Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars shares a deep conviction that they could not have achieved so much without teachers and professors who guided, inspired, tutored and challenged them during their academic journeys.

The program, named for the late university benefactor and Washington-area publisher, highlights the importance of mentorship with $1,500 scholarships, each of which is given in the K-12 teacher’s name to another student from their school district who will attend UMD the next academic year.

The 2023-24 Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars include:

• Maria Nikolaitchik, Statistics and Atmospheric and Oceanic Science major
• Karthik Sellakumaran Latha, Mathematics major

 Maria Nikolaitchik

Nikolaitchik honored teacher mentor Jeremy Brenneman from Middletown High School in Middletown, Maryland, and UMD faculty mentor Timothy Canty, an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science.

“In high school, Mr. Jeremy Brenneman taught my very first class in statistics. He made the class fun and engaging by giving real-world examples, from horse racing to football,” Nikolaitchik said. “I came into UMD as a statistics major, but in part thanks to Professor Timothy Canty’s engaging lecture style, I was soon hooked on the world of atmospheric science. From Professor Canty I learned about the ins and outs of atmospheric science research.”

Canty also serves as the faculty advisor for Mesoterps, a student-led project to install weather stations across campus. Nikolaitchik serves as the project lead. 

“Both Mr. Brenneman and Professor Canty helped me better who I fundamentally am as a person: someone who loves numbers and clouds,” Nikolaitchik added.

Karthik Sellakumaran Latha

Latha honored teacher mentor Marisa Reinsch from Skyline High School in Sammamish, Washington, and UMD faculty mentor Roohollah Ebrahimian, a principal lecturer in the Department of Mathematics.

“I was lucky to have Ms. Marisa Reinsch as my calculus teacher in high school. Ms. Reinsch motivated me to study math in college, fostering my love for the subject and instilling a desire to teach in the future,” Latha said. “Her class was instrumental in my decision to serve as a teaching assistant for Calculus I and II at the University of Maryland.”

Latha conducted number theory research at UMD with Ebrahimian, solidifying his passion for math and convincing Latha to pursue becoming a math professor in the future.

“Dr. Ebrahimian is an amazing lecturer and is always willing to help his students,” Latha added.

About the Program

“The late Philip Merrill established this program to foster a community of scholars, faculty members and K-12 teachers who understand the pivotal role of mentoring and educating the upcoming generation,” said UMD President Darryll J. Pines. “We are profoundly thankful for all the individuals, including the many teachers, who have significantly influenced our students' academic progress.”

The program also spotlights the work of the graduating seniors, who are selected by the academic colleges and schools. In addition to internships and research projects, the honorees were involved in a range of campus activities, from matching students with service projects to marching in the marching band.

“The accomplishments of these scholars stand as a testament to the enduring influence of teacher excellence in shaping outstanding student achievements,” said William A. Cohen, associate provost and dean for undergraduate studies. “It is a special joy to celebrate student achievements alongside those individuals who helped foster their success. The Merrill Presidential Scholars Program is creating an essential legacy by emphasizing the mentorship that makes academic and personal triumphs possible.”

Anne Jorstad (Ph.D. ’12, applied mathematics & statistics, and scientific computation) leads the data team at Switzerland’s national science agency.

Anne Jorstad was born and raised in a Seattle suburb and spent much of her 20s on the East Coast. So when the University of Maryland alum received a postdoc offer in Switzerland, she decided it would be fun to live abroad for a little while.

“When I got the postdoc in Switzerland, I thought, ‘I’ll do that for two years, come back to the U.S. and move on with my career,’” said Jorstad (Ph.D. ’12, applied mathematics & statistics, and scientific computation). “But it turns out that Switzerland is really nice, so I didn’t come back.”

Jorstad now leads the data team at the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the largest state agency to fund research in Switzerland. Her team of eight data scientists and statisticians is dedicated to identifying trends, removing bias and increasing efficiency in the funding and review of research. 

“We are lucky because Switzerland invests a lot of money into research and we have an entire team dedicated to data analysis,” Jorstad said. “I don’t think such a large team exists at any other public funding agency in the world.”

Jorstad’s commitment to equity and affinity for data-based decisions—two qualities she honed during her time at UMD—have served her well in this leadership role.

Promoting inclusion in STEM
While looking into applied math Ph.D. programs in 2007, Jorstad felt that many schools were merely tacking applied math principles onto a pure math curriculum. She wanted something more practical and interdisciplinary and found it at UMD.
“The fact that there was an applied math program that wasn’t just pure fluid dynamics, but was actually applying math to other disciplines, is really what interested me,” she said. “I think for people like me who want to do something useful with math, the UMD program is an amazing fit.”

While Jorstad worked on her doctorate at UMD, she spent two summers interning at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. There, she enjoyed using math for good—for example, one of her projects involved developing a computational geometric model of a human heart, with the goal of designing a tool surgeons could use to practice complex surgeries before operating on a patient.

Jorstad also joined UMD’s Graduate Student Government (GSG), taking an interest in policies that could make science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs more inclusive. As a woman in math, she was keenly aware of the biases in academia; GSG helped expose her to other issues and nudged her career path toward policy.
“Wanting to counteract sexism was my entrance into government and policy, but then it became a broader awareness of all the ways in which the world is not fair to lots of people for various reasons; wanting to fight for not just equality, but equity; and wanting to promote diversity in programs,” she said. “I was interested in trying to make a difference.”

Through her advocacy with GSG, Jorstad helped to extend the health insurance coverage of Ph.D. students who were about to graduate and did not have insurance lined up for the summer. When it came time for her own graduation, she decided to move abroad and expand her worldview—and her reach—even further.

Heading to Lausanne

Jorstad moved to Switzerland in 2012 after accepting a postdoc position at EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. In this role, she led the development of computational tools that used geometry and image processing to compare neurons from young and old animals—research that could then be applied to understand degenerative brain disease in humans.
She then joined SNSF in 2014 and has been in Bern—a German-speaking region and the de facto capital of Switzerland—ever since. She studied French in high school and college and now takes German lessons, but most of her work is conducted in English.

Because SNSF is by far Switzerland’s largest national research funder, it’s a dream destination for data analysts.
“In the U.S. there’s the NSF and NIH and a bunch of other agencies, but in Switzerland, the SNSF funds everything and everybody,” she said. “Because it’s all in one database, we can ask and answer interesting questions about the research that’s being done in Switzerland.”

Jorstad’s team tapped into that database to analyze the number of women who applied for grants during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that fewer women applied during this period, and women in the social sciences and humanities were the most heavily affected. Though it’s illegal to collect data on race and ethnicity in Switzerland, Jorstad hopes to find data proxies that can help identify whether and where biases exist. She believes her work could lead to policies that strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion.

“When there’s no data to support that there is bias against different ethnicities, it’s hard to convince people that we need to work on this problem,” Jorstad said. “It’s very important to me that we try to figure out proxies for different types of diversity.”

Jorstad is also passionate about effective science communication. She encourages her team to write “data stories”—articles about their data analysis projects—that are intended for nonexperts.
“Communicating to the public is a completely different skill set but it’s extremely useful,” she said. “It’s something we probably should all practice during our Ph.D.”

When she isn’t crunching data, Jorstad spends her time hiking Switzerland’s scenic trails, swimming in the Aare River that bisects Bern or playing oboe in a local wind ensemble that moonlights as a marching band in the summer. She’s also involved in local organizations that work to make a social impact.

Whether it’s in her community or in her work as a data scientist, Jorstad is committed to making a difference.
“At SNSF, we want to enable better policy decisions based on data,” she said. “Using evidence to make the world a better place is very important to me.”

Written by Emily Nunez

Gift will provide mathematics majors with financial, mentoring and networking opportunities.

A University of Maryland alum recently made a major gift to establish the Nancy Lee Hurtt ’70 Maryland Promise Scholarship in honor of his late wife. 

This gift will support mathematics majors from Maryland and Washington, D.C., who demonstrate exceptional leadership and academic potential, providing them with financial, mentoring and networking opportunities. The gift will also be matched by the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation as part of its Building Together investment in the university.

Hurtt was the first in her family to attend college and had to pay the full cost of her education herself. And it wasn’t easy—she cobbled together small scholarships, part-time jobs and summer work to pay the bills. 

“Money was a constant worry,” her husband said. “The margins of her books are covered with calculations. Not calculus or physics—arithmetic, as she tried to figure out how to pay for this lab fee or that textbook.”

Despite her financial hardships, Hurtt graduated in four years with her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and membership in the Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Mu Epsilon honor societies.

Hurtt went on to receive a master’s degree in computer science from the Polytechnical Institute of New York. She had a career as a computer programmer and was a key contributor to the system-managed storage subsystem of IBM’s flagship operating system. Hurtt passed away in 2015 after a 30-year battle with cancer.

“I think Nancy would be pleased to know that the Nancy Lee Hurtt ’70 Maryland Promise Scholarship will spare others the financial worries that she had in college,” her husband said.

Interested in establishing your own Maryland Promise Scholarship? Contact Megan Carnell at 301.405.0205 or for more information. Contributions will continue to be matched until March 1, 2026, or until no more matching funds are available, whichever comes first.