On Monday, school officials in Irving, Texas called the police on 14-year-old high school student Ahmed Mohamed when they suspected that a clock he built himself and brought to school could be a bomb. The internet quickly picked up the gauntlet, and rallied around the hashtag [#IStandWithAhmed]((http://www.popsci.com/istandwithahmed-hashtag-internet-fights-wrongful-arrest-with-science) in support for the wrongly arrested teen. Now Ahmed is hoping that the good people of the internet will show their support financially, as well: last night, he launched a fundraising campaign on crowdfunding site Launchgood for a scholarship that will go to him and other young inventors like him.
Ahmed Mohamed's arrest for bringing his clock project to MacArthur High School in Texas has sparked public outrage (and the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed). And although police eventually released the 14-year-old, there is now a serious discussion around the fact that, like Ahmed and Kiera Wilmot, many students from underrepresented backgrounds may have a hard time finding support for their interests in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).