Congratulations to the 2026 Eye-Bank Scholarship winners! Lillian Huynh is the recipient of this year’s Young Ambassador Scholarship, and Ethan Kaminsky is the recipient of the STEM Scholarship. Each awardee will receive a $3,000 scholarship from The Eye-Bank.
Young Ambassador Scholarship Winner Lillian Huynh is a rising junior at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre. As part of her project’s outreach efforts qualifying her for the Young Ambassador Scholarship, Lillian shared curated stories to her Instagram page that raised awareness about eye, organ and tissue donation and helped her audience enroll in the donor registry. Her posts included her own story as a liver transplant recipient, an overview of Donate Life New York State’s proposed 2026 Doorways to Donation Act, statistics on donation and links to register. The Young Ambassador Scholarship was established by Donor Mother and Eye-Bank Board Member Andrea Nordquist and named in memory of her son, Christopher, who became an eye donor when he died suddenly at the age of two.
STEM Scholarship Winner Ethan Kaminsky is a rising junior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. In his research proposal that qualified him for the STEM Scholarship, he proposed a methodology exploring how an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) logistics network might be used to reduce critical transit time for the procurement and delivery of eye and tissue donations across New York City, thus increasing the number of viable donations that successfully reach transplant recipients. The STEM Scholarship was established in memory of The Eye-Bank’s former President James Fabian who served on the Board for a total of 18 years.
On behalf of the Scholarship Committee, The Eye-Bank wishes both Lillian and Ethan success in their future endeavors. Information about Eye-Bank Scholarships and previous winners is at available here.