In this month’s edition of STEM Rising, a researcher, a future OB-GYN, and a nine-year-old math champion show what it looks like to fall in love with STEM — at every stage.
Each month, Exponentia Prime and the Indianapolis Recorder will partner for STEM Rising, profiling three Indiana STEM Changemakers at three different stages of the journey: a working professional, a student deep in advanced coursework and an elementary explorer just getting started.
This month: STEM Rising profiles a cosmetic chemist who spent years chasing an exact shade of pink, a high school junior already mapping out medical school, and a third grader who just wants everyone to know that trying is the whole point.
Three spaces, three career stages, and one lesson at the center of all of them: keep going, even when the answer doesn’t come easily.
The researcher
Remi Ayodele, Director of R&D/Regulatory, Australian Gold
“Never give up as a researcher. Science is all about trial and error.”
Remi Ayodele didn’t set out to become a chemist; chemistry class found her. Today she’s Director of R&D and Regulatory at Australian Gold, formulating the body lotions, scrubs, and soaps that end up on store shelves across the country. It’s not glamorous work. It’s trial and error, batch after batch, guided along the way by a mentor she still calls her hero.
One project still makes her proud. She discovered that ascorbic acid was quietly discoloring the dye in one of her lotion formulas and had to rework it from the ground up to hit an exact Pantone color match, the kind of precision most people never think about when they grab a bottle off a shelf.
“Never give up as a researcher,” Ayodele said. “Science is all about trial and error.”
Her advice for a curious student in Indianapolis is simple: take a chemistry class. And her message for the field is one she wants families to hear directly. The city needs more cosmetic chemists, she said, and the door is wider than people may think.
The future physician
Maliyah Kushner, High school junior
“You’re just as capable of doing hard things as anyone else. Don’t limit yourself.”
Maliyah Kushner, a high school junior, is currently juggling Anatomy and Physiology, AP Psychology, Pre-Calculus, and AP Chemistry, and she’ll tell you AP Chemistry is the hardest of the bunch simply because of how much ground it covers. She didn’t land there by accident. A strong run in honors chemistry as a sophomore opened the door to the advanced track she’s on now, and she was surprised by just how many science course options existed once she started looking.
Her study routine shifts week to week, but a whiteboard at home and the “blurting method,” which includes writing down everything she remembers before checking her notes, get her through the toughest exams. When a problem feels impossible, she breaks it into pieces and leans on friends who can explain it in a way that finally clicks.
Kushner’s biggest opponent isn’t a subject; it’s time. Procrastination is her real challenge, and a planner paired with a clear sense of her end goal keeps her on track. That goal: medical school, and eventually her own OB-GYN practice serving women “from all walks of life.”
“You’re just as capable of doing hard things as anyone else,” Kushner said. “Don’t limit yourself.”
The champion
Derick Watson Jr., Elementary school student
“I thought I wasn’t going to win, but I did.”
Derick Watson Jr., 9 years old, is a third grader and he already has a podium finish to his name. He won third place at the Exponentia Prime Regional Math Competition in February 2026. He wasn’t sure he would place at all.
“I thought I wasn’t going to win, but I did,” he said.
Ask Watson what got him into math in the first place and the answer is refreshingly uncomplicated; he just likes solving problems. When a problem feels too hard, his strategy is just as direct: take a breath and try to calm down. His mother, Latrice, and mentor Patrick Jones Ed.D., have been in his corner the whole way, and according to his mom, Watson doesn’t just tolerate a challenge; he asks what’s next the moment something starts to feel too easy.
His advice to other kids nervous about trying something new: “Just try. If you don’t try, you will never learn.”
One mission
A research lab, a hospital someday, a math competition podium at age 9 — three very different places, one identical spark. Ayodele is still solving formulas 20 years into her career. Kushner is stacking the coursework that will get her into medical school. Watson is already asking what’s next. In Indianapolis, STEM excellence starts early and never really stops.
Exponentia Prime is an Indianapolis-based organization building the STEM pipeline for urban youth through math circles, competition preparation and math camps. We turn academic excellence into something visible, normal, and celebrated in the community.
