UB senior chosen for National Grid Youth Advisory Council

A UB senior inspired to pursue STEM studies by his elementary school Planet Science Club has been selected to serve on the National Grid Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council.

Miles Stefko is one of 12 students from higher education institutions in the Northeast who will determine how to spend $50,000 to advance the foundation’s social outreach with an emphasis on STEM programming.

Stefko, 21, raised in the Rochester suburb of Penfield, hopes to use his membership on the advisory council to help other students experience the discovery and excitement he experienced in that elementary school science club.

“Every week or two, my elementary school would bring in somebody from some area of science as part of the Planet Science Club,” says Stefko, who is scheduled to graduate with bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences in May. He plans to continue his research at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences while applying to medical school.

“I distinctly remember at one point, they brought in a marine biologist. He showed us some local aquatic life he had collected from ponds. There was a cardiothoracic surgeon who brought in a pig heart, and we got hands-on experience with that. That’s where I remember being super-intrigued by it. And that continued through elementary and middle and high school, and ultimately getting to college.

“I just found it suited the way I think. I like logic. I like math. I like being able to read something and understand it. That’s where it started. And as I have gone through my education, it’s only gotten stronger.”

The National Grid Foundation is an independent charitable arm of National Grid. It advances the company’s Grid for Good social impact community engagement initiative, which is dedicated to making a positive difference in the communities it serves through three guiding pillars: increasing access to affordable energy, developing the energy workforce and supporting community resilience.

“This council represents the future of youth-driven philanthropy and community engagement, and we are honored to partner with your universities in this important initiative,” Robert Simmons, executive director of the National Grid Foundation, said in announcing the advisory council members.

The selected students, who will receive $2,000 stipends for each of the next two years, will meet quarterly to shape grantmaking decisions, develop leadership skills and drive meaningful community impact. They will collectively manage a $50,000 fund guided by principles of youth participatory grantmaking.

Simmons noted that National Grid’s Youth Advisory Council stands out as one of the only youth advisory councils led by a corporate foundation in the U.S. “It is a rare example of genuinely empowering young people within the philanthropic sector,” he said, adding that such councils are “exceptionally uncommon among corporate foundations — and virtually unheard of among U.S. energy companies.”

“This initiative reflects a groundbreaking commitment to youth engagement,” he said, “and positions the foundation and our university partners as national leaders in youth participatory philanthropy.”

Stefko fits right in. His qualifications included service with the Rochester-based nonprofit Bhoja, which is focused on making large quantities of meals for the community with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and nutrition. Stefko worked in the kitchen, receiving ingredients and preparing and delivering food. “It was super fun,” he says. “It’s a great group over there.”

At the Jacobs School, Stefko works on a research project supervised by Elsa Bou Ghanem, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, that focuses on aging immune systems.

“As we get older, we are more susceptible to certain diseases,” Stefko explains. “Within the lab, I am working on a project focused on developing a novel vaccine formulation against pneumococcal infections that disproportionately endanger the aged population. We’ve gotten to test the effectiveness of that in both young and older mouse models. There is the potential to translate that into humans and protect those who are at risk for these infections.”

Stefko, who also has been a teaching assistant for the Human Anatomy course, sees the Youth Advisory Council as an opportunity to be involved in STEM from “a totally different perspective.”

“A lot of students spend their education paths in STEM focused on the hard science and laboratory-derived results, myself included,” he says. “An opportunity like this provides an environment that facilitates thinking about an education system that promotes better accessibility to high-quality STEM programming while having the ability to act on it.

“For me, this will enhance my teamwork and collaboration skills, which are both crucial in my desired career path of medicine,” Stefko says. “It will also allow me to think more systemically and look upstream at the factors playing into achieving STEM involvement at all ages.

“It will be great to work alongside the 11 other members of the council, who each bring a diverse skillset along with the perspective of a different region in the Northeast to the table.”