Mayfield Fellows Honored for Campus Impact
Stanford’s commencement and student awards season shone a spotlight on two of STVP’s remarkable graduating Mayfield Fellows, Peyton Klein (above, left) and Divya Ganesan (right). Their work has helped define what community, resilience, and student-driven change look like at Stanford.
“The Swiss army knife of awesomeness” is how one nominator described the winner of this year’s Sterling award, Peyton Klein. The J.E. Wallace Sterling Award recognizes a graduating senior whose undergraduate leadership and volunteer activities have had a strong impact on the Stanford community. A 2024 Mayfield Fellow, Peyton started the On Call Cafe in 2024, a student-run business to promote gathering and conversation on campus following COVID-19. Thanks to Peyton’s fundraising, the cafe, also known as “Stanford’s living room,” is endowed with $1 million to make it a permanent resource for students.
Peyton also earned a Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award, which recognizes distinctive contributions to undergraduate education and the quality of student life. Peyton has worked to extend mental health programming on campus and build community through events and programming, and she served as a Schultz Fellow in addition to her Mayfield fellowship.
Peyton’s bachelor’s degree is in human biology, with a focus on healthcare design and delivery. As a Mayfield fellow, she explored AI healthcare applications in the mental health space and complemented this with her leadership at On Call, exploring how “third spaces” could foster a culture of community and well-being on campus.
Mayfield Fellow Divya Ganesan also received a 2025 Dinkelspiel award. As an undergraduate studying political science, Divya explored the intersection of national security and emerging technology. She founded Stanford’s first all-women cybersecurity team and led Women in National Security on campus. Her academic work has ranged from advising U.S. Central Command on counter-disinformation strategies through the Hacking for Defense program, to completing an honors thesis at the Center for International Security and Cooperation on how AI companies respond to federal policy.
In her leadership roles, including at The Stanford Daily, and as vice president of the ASSU (Associated Students of Stanford University), Divya advocated for critical supports for students. She helped rebuild the campus community in the wake of COVID-19 by advocating to make student events more accessible and affordable, helping fund initiatives such as Stanford FLiCKS and the Pub.
As a Mayfield Fellow, Divya focused on applying artificial intelligence to enhance national security decision-making. This summer, she’s working at Vannevar Labs on a product that uses AI and open-source data to map and quantify economic competition in strategic regions. Divya plans to return to Stanford in the fall to pursue her master’s degree in computer science.
From mental health advocacy to inclusive campus events and million-dollar initiatives, Mayfield Fellows like Peyton and Divya are leaving a lasting legacy. They are part of a growing network of innovators who, as Mayfield Fellows, have become leaders in their communities and trailblazers in problem solving critical societal issues.
Interested in learning more or joining the next cohort of changemakers? More on the Mayfield Fellows Program.
