Arjun Mehendale is a National Merit Scholar and junior at The University of Texas at Dallas majoring in neuroscience with minors in psychology and political science. He has worked on campus as a research assistant in the Cortical Plasticity Lab at the Texas Biomedical Device Center, where he studied vagus nerve stimulation as a potential treatment for autism. He has also worked as a clinical researcher in the cardiology department at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Hospital. As someone passionate about advocating for people with neurodevelopmental disorders, Mehendale founded Divergent at UT Dallas, an organization that aims to demystify these conditions. For the past three years, he has volunteered at the GRACE Community Clinic, a free clinic in Grapevine, TX, serving economically disadvantaged patients. After graduation, he plans to attend medical school and pursue a career in neurosurgery as well as public policy.