Alex Poret (far left) along with President Barack Obama and the rest of his new Kid Science Advisor team

Congratulations, Alex Poret! The 16-year-old from Sparta, New Jersey, who participated in Liberty Science Center’s Partners in Science program over the summer, has been chosen as one of President Barack Obama’s new Kid Science Advisors.

Poret and ten other students from around the country recently had their first meeting with President Obama at the White House and shared their ideas for science and STEM education. They were joined by the president’s science adviser, John Holdren, as well as astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly, NASA Director Charles Bolden and National Science Foundation Director France Córdova.

The White House created the Kid Science Advisor program in order to promote the improvement of STEM education in schools. The idea came from a nine-year-old inventor, Jacob Leggette, who approached President Obama at the 2016 White House Science Fair and asked him if he had a “child science advisor.” He did not, but thought it was a great idea.

Poret is a junior at Sparta High School, where she participates in the Robotics club, is a co-president of the Biodiesel club, and is a founding member of the Women in Science club.

As a participant of LSC’s Partners in Science program, Poret was paired with professors from Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and assisted with medical research. At the end of the summer, she presented a research project on surfactant protein d as a biomarker in bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

She plans to major in biomedical engineering before continuing her education in a joint M.D./Ph.D. program.