Cybersecurity Research
Riya worked on research in cybersecurity, where she developed a defense mechanism that guarantees protection for common users and small-businesses against four of the most prevalent cyber-attacks. She wrote a paper detailing her research and presented her work at the New Jersey Southern Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (NJSJSHS). She won first place overall and in her Computer Science category, which admitted her into the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (NJSHS), where she was a national finalist. She was also awarded a national Honorable mention by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) for her research and efforts to promote STEM education in women. This research was also accepted to MIT's Undergraduate Research Technology Conference in October 2023. For more information, click on the image for access to her article on her high school district website.
BMM 2022
Riya won the Youth Icon Award at the Bruhan Maharashtra Mandal (BMM) 2022 Convention in Atlantic City. She was recognized for her achievements in pageantry, performing arts, extracurriculars, and academics. She was selected out of all Marathi teens in the US and Canada. Riya was presented with this coveted award at BMM's opening ceremony in front of a crowd of approximately 5,000 people, where she was selected from many talented singers to sing the Canadian and Indian national anthems. She additionally performed several songs with her guru, Hemant Kulkarni, in an extensive performance that included well-known Marathi and Hindustani Classical songs.
Riya's Summer internship
During her summer internship with Commvault Systems, Riya was one of the youngest interns in the group. She was able to learn from her mentors and had a first-hand experience of the corporate lifestyle. In her six weeks at Commvault, she learned and researched ransomware. She applied her knowledge in C++ towards developing code that effectively created and deleted honeypot files in order to prevent attacks. Riya’s code is now part of Commvault’s product and is used for the security checks of thousands of Commvault’s customer companies. For more information regarding her internship, click the image for access to her article on Patch News.