Banerjee strives for excellence

Eesha Banerjee has worked hard to get to where she is today, but her family has inspired her to keep pushing forward.

Banerjee has been selected as a National Merit semifinalist, which puts her up for countless awards and scholarship opportunities. She was also selected to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for her project on lasers. Only around 1,800 students were selected out of millions of entries.

“I was incredibly grateful, for both the fact that the education and opportunities that I have received have enabled me to get the score I did and for the scholarships that became available to me as a result of being a semifinalist,” she said.

At 16 years old, Banerjee is already on a fast-track to academic success, but her motivation comes from her family, not the accolades.

Banerjee comes from an impressive family of researchers. Her parents, Drs. Sanjib and Sami Banerjee, both work at UAB as biochemical researchers, with her father studying the biology behind the human papillomavirus and her mother researching lung fibrosis.

Banerjee’s success can be seen as a product of spending countless hours in a lab with her parents or as a sacrifice her parents made for her brother Sourav. Her parents moved from their stable jobs, family and friends in India to provide assistance to Sourav, who has been diagnosed with autism, due to the lack of knowledge in India. Banerjee said their support for her brother has helped her progress and work hard toward her academic future.

“My parents have definitely been a huge help to me,” she said. “Their background as researchers was a part of it, because I grew up exposed to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and I spent a lot of time in their labs when I was younger, but their help extends much further than their technical knowledge. Their support for and faith in my brother continued unfailingly throughout my childhood, and I think this is what made the largest impact on my academic efforts.”

Her parents helped her at a young age by teaching her how to read and do math. Banerjee said her dad would print out worksheets for her to do so she could self-learn math. Banerjee attended Hall-Kent Elementary School, then moved to Homewood Middle School. She is now enrolled at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

Banerjee said the opportunities at ASFA have helped her see the future possibilities for herself.

“ASFA has opened up opportunities in STEM for me that I didn’t even know existed, and participating in math, science and computer science competitions through ASFA has expanded the boundaries of what I thought was possible for myself,” she said.

She is involved with Student Council and ASFA Ambassadors, as well as playing the violin and dancing with Notinee Indian Dance Troupe.

Banerjee said she will continue to work hard to improve herself over time.

“I am proud of what I have accomplished, but I know that I can improve,” she said. “I know that my skills in math and science aren’t as solid as they could be, and I know that I can perform better research than I have in the past. I have seen people who are better than me on both fronts. Like my brother, I hope to continue improving myself until I personally feel I can’t anymore, if that ever happens."