High School Seniors Win $1.8 Million at Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024 for Innovative Scientific Research on Artificial Intelligence, Cancer Metabolism and Mathematical Optimization
$250,000 top award goes to Achyuta Rajaram in the nation's oldest and most prestigious Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) competition for high school seniors
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. and WASHINGTON, March 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) and Society for Science (the Society) announced that Achyuta Rajaram, 17, of Exeter, NH, won the top award in the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) 2024, America's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.
The competition, now in its 83rd year, has consistently identified young innovators who become tomorrow's STEM leaders. The 2024 finalists demonstrated extensive scientific knowledge through research and interviews while showcasing their commitment to addressing societal issues, passion for discovery, noteworthy leadership and community involvement.
Forty finalists, including Achyuta, were honored this evening during an award ceremony emceed by American Broadcaster Soledad O'Brien. More than $1.8 million was awarded to the finalists, who were selected from among the largest entrant pool since the 1960s through a holistic evaluation process.
-- Achyuta Rajaram won first place and $250,000 for developing an automatic
method to discover which parts of a computer model are involved in
decision-making. This knowledge sheds light on what these algorithms are
"thinking," which can help make them more effective, fair and safe.
-- Second place and $175,000 went to Thomas Cong, 17, of Ossining, NY for
investigating the rapid growth of certain cancers and whether
information controlling metabolism is primarily controlled by the
expression of genetic information. He found that immune cancers have
pronounced differences in metabolism and gene expression, which suggests
that a more complex landscape of metabolic variation exists and gives
further insight into cancer studies.
-- Third place and $150,000 went to Michelle Wei, 17, of San Jose, CA for
finding that second-order cone programming problems can be solved more
quickly than previously thought by converting the original problem into
a modified form. Problems of this type appear frequently in areas
ranging from supply chain optimization to electrical power distribution
to financial portfolio management or machine learning, and she hopes her
research may lead to process optimizations across various industries.
"Congratulations to the winners of this year's Regeneron Science Talent Search," said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO, Society for Science and Executive Publisher, Science News. "The remarkable intellect and ingenuity of these students serves as an inspiration for us all. Their groundbreaking innovations are vital in uncovering the crucial solutions we need now to address our most intractable challenges."
The Regeneron Science Talent Search empowers young people who are passionate about innovation and using scientific discovery to contribute to improving our world. By providing a national stage to present new ideas and challenge old ways of thinking, the competition encourages and rewards a culture of idea sharing, critical thinking and continuous improvement. It also serves as a catalyst to discovering sustainable solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. The judging panel considers how these research endeavors, innovative thinking and leadership qualities demonstrate the students' potential to become future leaders in critical STEM fields.
"Congratulations to the winners of this year's Regeneron Science Talent Search and to all the brilliant finalists," said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., co-Founder, Board co-Chair, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron, and a top winner in the 1976 STS. "My own participation in the Science Talent Search during my high school years sparked a lifelong commitment to science and set me on my path of inventing and developing new medicines for previously untreatable diseases. Our finalists are only beginning their journeys, and their extraordinary achievements at such a young age give me hope that they will go on to deliver major innovative breakthroughs that will greatly benefit humanity."
Other top honors from the competition include:
-- Fourth Place: Nathan Wei, 17, of Gainesville, FL received a $100,000
award for developing a more sustainable way to create strong and durable
plastic polymers that are also recyclable. He believes this approach
should also work with biologically based raw materials, which would make
the process even more sustainable.
-- Fifth Place: Zeyneb Kaya, 17, of Saratoga, CA received a $90,000 award
for creating a natural language processing algorithm, similar to
ChatGPT, that could help preserve endangered languages. She found a way
to enhance the small training datasets of lesser-known languages by
creating accurate translation pairs of words to generate grammatically
correct sentences.
-- Sixth Place: Christopher Zorn, 17, of Irvington, NY received a $80,000
award for investigating the relationship between RET, a gene involved in
cellular signals, and MYC, a set of genes that regulate cell growth and
death. He created genetically altered lung cancer cell lines, exposed
them to various drugs and measured the MYC protein levels, which
appeared at elevated levels and were shown to lead to treatment
resistance. His findings suggest paths for further drug research
targeting both RET and MYC.
-- Seventh Place: Ella Pilacek, 17, of Oviedo, FL received a $70,000 award
for researching ways to teach non-native honeybees how to pollinate an
endangered native species of orchid. By mixing the compounds of the
flower's scent with a sugar solution that bees naturally love, Ella was
successfully able to train the bees to be attracted to the scent,
potentially making increased pollination and species survival more
likely.
-- Eighth Place: Selina Zhang, 18, of Annandale, NJ received a $60,000
award for designing and field-testing an eco-conscious, A.I.-powered
artificial tree that uses machine learning to selectively lure, identify
and kill the destructive and invasive spotted lanternfly. Her
eco-friendly prototype tree cost her just under $200 to build and she
hopes it may be a useful tool in controlling invasive species.
-- Ninth Place: Arnav Chakravarthy, 18, of Cupertino, CA received a $50,000
award for comparing the genetic origins of a type of immune cell, known
as macrophages, in the brain, liver and bone marrow to learn more about
how they replenish themselves. Most cells could be traced back to their
embryonic beginnings, however, Arnav found evidence that certain brain
cells may also be replenished from our bone marrow as we age. His
findings may shed light on future targeted therapies for age-related
diseases like Alzheimer's.
-- Tenth Place: Alan Bu, 17, of Exeter, NH, received a $40,000 award for a
math project that gave precise limits on how many spanning trees a
planar graph can have. A spanning tree is the connecting point of
vertices in a graph. His key insight was to connect the spanning tree
counting problem to a separate problem in linear algebra, a different
field of math, which he could then attack. His results shed light on the
structure of planar graphs.
-- Aditi Avinash, 17, of Highlands Ranch, CO, was named the Seaborg Award
winner and given the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Regeneron
Science Talent Search Class of 2024. The 40 finalists chose Aditi as the
student who most exemplifies their class and the extraordinary
attributes of nuclear chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, who won the Nobel Prize
for Chemistry in 1951 and served on the Society's Board of Trustees for
30 years.
All other finalists received $25,000. All 40 finalists will join the ranks of other STS alumni, many of whom have gone on to have world-changing careers in STEM fields, and some of whom have earned the most esteemed honors in science and math, including the Nobel Prize, National Medal of Science and MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. In total, Regeneron awarded $3.1 million in prizes through the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024, including $2,000 to each of the top 300 scholars and their schools.
Learn more about Regeneron Science Talent Search at https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/.
For media resources, visit https://www.societyforscience.org/2024-regeneron-science-talent-search-media-kit.
About Society for Science
Society for Science is a champion for science, dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement. Established in 1921, Society for Science is best known for its award-winning journalism through Science News and Science News Explores, its world-class science research competitions for students, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair and the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, and its outreach and equity programming that seeks to ensure that all students have an opportunity to pursue a career in STEM. A 501(c)(3) membership organization, Society for Science is committed to inform, educate and inspire. Learn more at www.societyforscience.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (Society4Science).
About Regeneron
Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) is a leading biotechnology company that invents, develops and commercializes life-transforming medicines for people with serious diseases. Founded and led for over 35 years by physician-scientists, our unique ability to repeatedly and consistently translate science into medicine has led to numerous FDA-approved treatments and product candidates in development, almost all of which were homegrown in our laboratories. Our medicines and pipeline are designed to help patients with eye diseases, allergic and inflammatory diseases, cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, hematologic conditions, infectious diseases and rare diseases.
Regeneron believes that operating as a good corporate citizen is crucial to delivering on our mission. We approach corporate responsibility with three goals in mind: to improve the lives of people with serious diseases, to foster a culture of integrity and excellence and to build sustainable communities. Regeneron is proud to be included on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Civic 50 list of the most "community-minded" companies in the U.S. Throughout the year, Regeneron empowers and supports employees to give back through our volunteering, pro bono and matching gift programs. Our most significant philanthropic commitments are in the area of early science education, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search and the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
For more information about Regeneron, please visit www.Regeneron.com or follow Regeneron on LinkedIn.
Media Contacts
Joseph Brown, Regeneron
386-283-1323, joseph.brown2@regeneron.com
Gayle Kansagor, Society for Science
703-489-1131, gkansagor@societyforscience.org
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