A gift from alumna Neda Nobari expanded the Presidential Scholars Program to specifically support STEM students’ part of the program. Pictured is the inaugural cohort.

SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 22, 2025 – San Francisco State University (SFSU) has announced the start of a major expansion for the University’s Presidential Scholars Program (PSP), which supports first-generation, low-income students with high GPAs from the San Francisco Bay Area by covering the costs of tuition, housing, books and more for four years. This expansion creates a cohort of Maryam Mirzakhani Scholars named in honor of the late distinguished and internationally recognized mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, who was the first woman and first Iranian to earn the prestigious Fields Medal. Iranian American businesswoman, community leader, philanthropist and alumna Neda Nobari (B.S., ’84) gave a gift to PSP to specifically support STEM students and to honor Mirzakhani’s inspiring legacy. The inaugural cohort started this fall 2025 semester. 

“Neda’s enduring commitment to San Francisco State has had a profound impact on our campus,” SFSU President Lynn Mahoney said. “We are truly thankful for her generosity, which opens doors for countless students — particularly those overcoming financial challenges as they pursue brighter futures.”

Graduating from SFSU with a Computer Science degree, Nobari has a profound passion for helping STEM students like she once was. “My hope is that these scholarships will prioritize students pursuing careers in STEM, fields close to my heart as one of the few women in my computer science cohort over 40 years ago,” Nobari said. “My goal is that these scholarships can further diversify STEM fields, benefitting students who have tremendous ability to make a difference and to honor the legacy of Professor Mirzakhani’s extraordinary accomplishments.”

As a proud SFSU alumna and lifelong advocate for education, Nobari has a deep connection with the University and has served many roles on the SFSU Foundation Board since its inception.

“Having served as an inaugural director, chair of its investment committee and board chair during its strategic planning process, I have developed a clear understanding of the University’s priorities and the growing challenges our students face. By repurposing my endowment, I am putting our students first,” Nobari said. “SFSU is very dear to me. I spent some of my most transformative years there, and because of its impact on my life, I want to continue giving back to the University and, most importantly, to the students.”

In 2020, Nobari was named the SFSU Alumna of the Year and was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame. She also established in 2022 the Azar Hatefi Graduate Student Fellowship in Iranian Diaspora Studies, honoring her late mother’s legacy. 

Additionally, Nobari was pivotal in founding the Student Sustainable Investment Fund to provide students hands-on experience in sustainable investing and funding scholarships for students participating in that program. This transformational investment in PSP is also the culmination of her long trajectory of consistently supporting student fellowships and scholarships at SFSU.

Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman to win the prestigious Fields Medal, the highest honor in mathematics, and the first Iranian to be so honored. Admired by her peers as a brilliant and fearless scientist who took on the most challenging questions, Mirzakhani’s legacy continues to inspire generations of young women in STEM to pursue their dreams. 

While attending an all-girls high school in Tehran, Mirzakhani earned gold medals in consecutive years as the first female to compete on Iran’s International Mathematical Olympiad team. Mirzakhani went on to earn her Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University and spent four years as an assistant professor and Clay Mathematics Institute Research Fellow at Princeton University. During that time, she was named one of Popular Science’s “Brilliant 10” extraordinary scientists.

Mirzakhani served as a professor of mathematics at Stanford University from 2009 until her death in 2017 at the age of 40. In 2018, the International Mathematical Union, in collaboration with the Women’s Committee of the Iranian Mathematical Society, established Mirzakhani’s birthday, May 12, as International Women in Mathematics Day to celebrate her inspirational life and legacy. 

PSP, supported by the Division of Student Life, promotes exceptional learning and adheres to the highest standards of academic quality in the spirit of inclusive excellence. Each year, scholarships are awarded based on academic merit to an entering freshman cohort. The program not only provides financial support but also fosters a sense of community among the scholars through various events and cohort-building activities. 

Founded in 1995, the program currently serves about 20 students per year, with about four to five students in each class at any given time. With the additional funds from Nobari, the program will serve 30 more students.

Learn more about the Presidential Scholars Program.