The Heinlein Society celebrated Robert A. Heinlein’s 115th birthday today by announcing the winners of its 2022 Scholarship competition. Expanded to four this year, the $4,000 scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities.

Virginia Heinlein Scholarship

Dedicated to a female candidate majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.

• Sera McCarty

Sera is the winner of this year’s Virginia “Ginny” Heinlein Scholarship. She will be attending the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor as a freshman. Her major is Biomedical Engineering. Her experience with her own gymnastic injuries – and later coaching – helped steer her toward a career helping others overcome their physical limitations.

Robert A. Heinlein Scholarship

Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences.

• JiIlian SouIvie

Jillian is the first winner of the Robert A Heinlein Scholarship. She is majoring in Biology and will attend the University of Arizona as a freshman in the fall. Jillian has always wanted to work in a medical field and help other. In recent years she has focused especially on the surgical field, particularly pediatrics and trauma.

Dr. Jerry Pournelle Scholarship

Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.

• Anna Mei Moulene

Anna is the recipient of Dr. Jerry Pournelle Scholarship. She will be a senior at Bard College in the upcoming academic year, majoring in Chemistry. She began baking at a very young age, which helped pique her interest in Chemistry initially. After graduating next year, she plans to get a postgraduate degree and hopes to work in a research lab verifying drug safety and efficacy.

Dr. Yoji Kondo Scholarship

Awarded to a candidate of any gender majoring in engineering, math, or biological or physical sciences, and add “Science Fiction as literature” as an eligible field of study.

• Oliver Tan

Oliver is the Dr. Yoji Kondo Scholarship recipient. He will be a freshman in the fall,majoring in Mathematics with a special interest in areas like computational complexity, number theory,and combinatorics. His biggest achievement in the subject is the discovery of the shortest known supersequence. His result has been featured in The On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.

The Heinlein Society commented that they were “astonished” to receive even more applications than the previous year — setting a new record of 567, including a record 53 international applicants. The international applicants are from 29 countries.

In addition to the winners, the names of six top finalists were announced:

• Gabriel Black
• Thor Gabrielson
• Ember Jones
• Kaitlyn Long
• Danielle Santoro
• Sarah Sasinowska