2025 PPG Foundation Scholarship Program

2025 National Merit Scholarship recipients

Helping students achieve their academic goals

In 2025, 35 outstanding students have been named recipients of the PPG Foundation Scholarship. These aspiring professionals represent a range of fields, including medicine, aerospace engineering, law, software development, astrophysics research, and quantitative finance. They join thousands of previous awardees who have benefited from the PPG Foundation Scholarship Program, which has been administered in partnership with the NATIONAL MERIT® Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) since 1956.

Recipients receive financial support to advance their undergraduate education and career paths. Since the program’s inception, more than 3,000 scholarships have been awarded. The 2025 awardees include both children of PPG employees and students residing in communities near PPG facilities. Each recipient will receive annual scholarships for up to four years of undergraduate study or until they complete their degree requirements, whichever comes first.

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

Monica Guardado

“The PPG Foundation National Merit Scholarship closes a critical financial gap in my educational journey. Beyond the financial assistance, it's a powerful investment in my future, giving me the encouragement to pursue my goals with even greater determination. The PPG Foundation's support empowers me to fully immerse myself in my studies and contribute to advancements in innovative technologies and scientific research.”

The PPG Foundation Scholarship Program is administered through the National Merit Scholarship Program - the largest, independently financed competition for college undergraduate scholarships in the U.S. All aspects of the selection of winners of the PPG Foundation Scholarship Program and the administration of their awards are handled by NMSC. Scholarship winners are selected by NMSC based on the results of students’ Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) during their junior year of high school.

See the 2025 scholarship recipients below and click here (PDF) to learn more about the students.

scholarship recipient
Alyssa Fagley*
Nathan Gaydos
Nathan Gaydos*
scholarship recipient
Aaron Greer*
Mia Grolemund
Mia Grolemund*
Monica Guardado
Monica Guardado
PPG scholarship recipient
Daniella Hernandez*
Molly Hurley
Molly Hurley
Hakan Ince
Hakan Ince
Heechan Jung
Heechan Jung*
Leni McCann
Leni McCann*
student scholarship recipient
Eisabella Panichella*
Rishabh Rao
Rishabh Rao
PPG scholarship recipient
Ella Raybosh
Sophie-Charlotte Rocco
Sophie-Charlotte Rocco
Ryne Rowland
Ryne Rowland
Praneel Samal
Madeleine Sanford
Madeleine Sanford
Sivaneyan Sezhian*
Grace Sosa
Grace Sosa*
scholarship recipient
Braxton Townsend
Leah Troiano
Leah Troiano*
Matt Wang
Matt Wang
Za'Nyah Wilson
Za'Nyah Wilson
Patrick Wylly
Patrick Wylly*
Lucy Zheng
Lucy Zheng

Additional 2025 winners not pictured above include: Prisha Dargan, Kaitlin Johnson, Avaneesh Polaconda, Abigail Reisinger, Raphael Rothstein, Rio Shannon, Celeste Shipka, Amritpal Singh, Finn Swartzwelder and Muhammad Yahya Younus.

*indicates PPG employee-child recipient.

Click here for the 2024 scholarship recipients.

2025 Sue Sloan Scholarship Recipient

Sue Sloan Award recognizes outstanding academic, community service commitments

Each year, the academic talents and outstanding community service commitment of one PPG employee-child recipient are recognized with the Sue Sloan Scholarship Award. Established in 2019, the award honors Sloan, the former executive director of the PPG Foundation, and a director of National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s Board from 2008 to 2014, for her lasting mark on PPG’s community engagement efforts and the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Congratulations to the 2025 recipient, Sivaneyan Sezhian, child of Dr. Sezhian Annamalai, Materials Technology Manager at PPG. Sivaneyan plans to pursue a major in Operations Research & Information Engineering at Cornell University, with aspirations to build a career as a Machine Learning Researcher.