Kelly Z. ’26 Awarded Olah Fellowship

The Science Department is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024-2025 Olah Fellowship for Creativity in Science and Engineering, Kelly Z. ’26. Kelly was inspired by a PolyGlobal event held last year where filmmaker and activist Kaylanee Mam discussed the effects of sand-dredging along the coasts of Cambodia. This led Kelly to attempt to answer the question: How can we protect coastal communities from the impact of cyclones by analyzing geospatial data and forming an app from its results.

Dr. Ron and Cindy Olah, parents of alumni Kaitlyn Olah ’14 and Justin Olah ’19, established the George Olah Fellowship for Creativity in Science and Engineering endowment fund at Poly in 2019 in tribute to Ron’s late father, who was a Nobel Prize Laureate, chemist, and professor. By creating the Olah Fellowship, they wished to provide opportunities for talented Upper School students to undertake research, study, or inquiry projects beyond the usual high school science curriculum.

 

Using spatial data from satellite imagery through Google Earth Pro and machine learning algorithms, Kelly confirmed significant loss of tropical trees and shrubs that protect a vulnerable ecosystem, called mangroves, which also impacts local communities who depend on mangroves for economic growth and protection from floods and cyclonic activities.  

 

With the support of the Olah Fellowship, she will be able to utilize higher-resolution data for a more precise analysis of the vulnerability of communities living within the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove area in the world. The analysis and the app formed in the research process have the potential to inform post-cyclone conservation strategies and mangrove restoration efforts that can enhance the socio-ecological situation in coastal areas.  

 

She won first place in the Congressional App Challenge, and she will be featured on an exhibit at the U.S. Capitol. She was invited to the House of Code at the capital with Congress and was recognized by Congresswoman Judy Chu. Read on for our Q&A with Kelly to learn more about her research and how Poly supported her work.

 

 

I love horses and am an avid horseback rider. For my seventh birthday, my mom let me go horseback riding. Since then, I’ve been going to the barn almost every day, which has made me love the outdoors. It made me passionate about the environment. I remember my elementary school teacher talking about climate change. I was so confused that this outdoor space I love so much was being destroyed. I did a lot of volunteer work in middle school for the environment, and then once I got to high school, I started my own environmental student nonprofit, and I help lead the Climate Coalition.

 

I shared my research with Mr. Saxton and Ms. Barnes; they have been reviewing my research and have been really supportive. It’s helpful to get their feedback and make changes. Also, having the opportunity to take more computer science classes has been really helpful. I did the coding in JavaScript, which is one of my first coding languages, and having the Technology Department here has been really helpful to me and others who are interested in technology. With the Olah Fellowship, I can use the funds to invest in higher resolution data so I can pinpoint exactly where the environmental degradation is. 

 

The opportunity to have my work reflect a social good is really important to me because it helps extend my research to a tangible outcome. I’m driven to build outreach beyond the initial plans and invest in community building. It’s not like, “I did the research, I got the paper published, I’m done.” It’s more like, “I had the initial idea. Now I’m building off of it. I want to see how it impacts others.” How can science research support social good? Research is often seen as an independent kind of thing, but my work is to extend that to the greater community.

 

I think that definitely relates to Poly’s honor code, fostering excellence, but beyond that, helping the people around us, and growing that initiative. As Poly students, we are supported with our drive to help others.