The Gangal Family Endowed Scholarship Fund, established by Lata and Shiva Gangal, seeks to support the next generation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals by funding students pursuing a graduate degree. Originally from India, Shiva Gangal built a career in engineering in the United States, seeing the value of having a strong workforce educated in science and technology.

“The gift ensures engineering students thrive in their environment and the college’s programs continue to excel, so we can ensure a robust STEM workforce and knowledge base in South Florida and beyond,” Gangal said.

For one alumna, Kavita Varma, the scholarship allowed her to realize her dream of earning a Ph.D. and launching a career in artificial intelligence (AI). Facing financial challenges, the support came at the right time for Varma to continue her doctorate studies. She had previously completed her undergraduate degree in India and a master’s degree at the University of Buffalo.

Varma was specifically interested in pursuing a doctorate at the Florida Atlantic University Center for Connected Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence within the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Her research focused on AI machine learning. Specifically, she used AI computing to detect anomalies in datasets. This technique can be used to identify fraud.

During her Ph.D. studies, Varma completed an internship at Amazon, which turned into a full-time job offer at the company’s San Diego office after she graduated. She is now working as an applied scientist, building AI models to help with business processes in the Kindle domain. She credits her time at Florida Atlantic for her success.

“It instilled in me a deep belief that anything is possible, and it opened up the world for me,” Varma said. “It’s really important for an institution to support you this way. I am so grateful.”
To learn more about how Florida Atlantic is providing scholarships that propel student success, as well as how Transcend Tomorrow: The Campaign for Florida Atlantic University is working to train more health care workers and create a healthier environment, visit transcendtomorrow.fau.edu.