Highlights from the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search
This year’s high school finalists were honored at a formal gala
The finalists of the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search celebrate on stage at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
C. Ayers/SSP
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Being too young to vote didn’t keep these teens from doing some serious science. Finalists in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search tackled some of the world’s biggest problems. They ranged from probing how to treat brain injury to measuring the temperature of the ocean.
Run by Society for Science & the Public and sponsored by Regeneron (a company that develops new medications), the Science Talent Search was established in 1942. Every year, it brings together 40 U.S. high school seniors to share their science projects with the public and to compete for monetary prizes. This year’s finalists were honored at a gala at the National Building Museum on Tuesday, March 14. The top winner, Indrani Das, 18, is a senior at the Academy for Medical Science Technology in Hackensack, N.J. She took home a prize of $250,000.
Eureka! Lab live-tweeted from the gala (follow @eureka_labs), and we have collected below the tweets, photos and Facebook Live video that ran during the event. Congratulations to the 40 amazing finalists!
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The 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search Gala
Celebrating the top 40 young scientists in the nation
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Miss the gala? Here are all the tweets from the event!
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Get excited! We’re here at the #RegeneronSTS gala to livetweet! Check out our swank digs! pic.twitter.com/Xi4Xn80WcH -
Society for Science & the Public, which runs the Regeneron Science Talent Search (and which publishes Science News for Students), was also on Facebook Live for the event. Check out their Facebook page for the video.
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Society for Science & the Public | FacebookSociety for Science & the Public (SSP) is a… … 10 at 1:07pm ·. Get to know the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2017 finalists. … Tune in to our Facebook Live !
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This year’s Master of Ceremonies is Suzanne Malveaux, award-winning journalist and @CNN National Correspondent. #RegeneronSTS pic.twitter.com/19phNyXQdO -
CNN Profiles – Suzanne Malveaux – National correspondent – CNN …Award-winning journalist Suzanne Malveaux serves as the network’s national correspondent, covering politics, national news, international events and culture. -
Malveaux says she’s interviewed 6 presidents, but they’ve got nothing on these fabulous #regeneronSTS finalists!
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OM NOM NOM… #RegeneronSTS pic.twitter.com/hE1McHDMUh -
Now, @MayaAjmera will address the finalists. She’s the CEO of @Society4Science and @SNStudents! #RegeneronSTS
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Maya Ajmera | Society for Science & the PublicMaya Ajmera is the President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public (the Society) and Publisher of its award-winning magazine, Science News, and family … -
@MayaAjmera says the #regeneronSTS finalists are “tomorrow’s scientists mathematicians engineers entrepreneurs…”
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Next, Leonard Schleifer, one of the founders of Regeneron, the sponsor of #RegeneronSTS
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Our team | Regeneron leadership… of scientific excellence and discovery. COMPANY LEADERSHIP; BOARD OF DIRECTORS. Leonard S. Schleifer, MD, PhD. George D. Yancopoulos, MD, PhD … -
And George Yancopoulos, the founding scientist of Regeneron #RegeneronSTS (they do everything together)
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“You’re all winners, you’re all our heroes, we are counting on you” – Yancopoulus to the #regeneronSTS finalists.
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The keynote address tonight is by @angelduckw, author of the best-selling book Grit. http://ow.ly/rY0v309UMgF #RegeneronSTS
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.@angeladuckw says “You had talent to get here, but you are also emerging as individuals who are passionate and persevering.” #regeneronSTS
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All the finalists got a copy of Duckworth’s book, Grit: The power of passion and perseverance.
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.@angeladuckw says “Go out into the world and write your own book…and don’t lose hope.” #regeneronSTS
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A few fun facts about this year’s finalists…
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18 of this years #RegeneronSTS finalists are varsity athletes! Tennis, track and more!
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Two of our #RegeneronSTS finalists this year are Eagle Scouts!
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Science and music go together! 19 of the #RegeneronSTS finalists are also musicians.
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Five of the finalists this year serve on school newpapers or other publications as well!
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Now please welcome the 40 finalists of the #RegeneronSTS!
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Jessika Baral, from Fremont Calif. She wrote an app that can analyze images of lung biopsies for cancer. #RegeneronSTS
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Sambuddha Chattopadhyay, from Olney, Md. He studied vacuum energy, to help our understand of dark energy. #RegeneronSTS
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Beau Bingham, from Tulsa, Ok. He studied extract from algae to see if they could produce antibiotics to fight MRSA #RegeneronSTS
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Jonathan Chung, from Cortland Manor, N.Y., studied how the waste from gut germs affects chemicals in the brain. #RegeneronSTS
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Rohan Dalvi, from North Potomac, Md., worked on a cheaper, faster way to find out the structure of proteins. #RegeneronSTS
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Steven Elliott from Parker, Tx., designed a set of circuits to stabilize a drone as it flies. #RegeneronSTS
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Indrani Das, from Oradell, N.J., studied how to protect brain cells from dying after injury. #RegeneronSTS
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Vineet Edupuganti from Portland, Ore., designed a battery that would dissolve harmlessly for use in our bodies. #RegeneronSTS
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Jacy Fang from Ridgewood, N.J., worked to make immune cells young again, to help them fight off relapse in leukemia. #RegeneronSTS
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Isabella Greco from New York City studied how gender stereotypes affect people’s memories. #RegeneronSTS
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Natalia Hajlasz from Pittsburgh, Pa., modeled how magnesium breaks away from water. #RegeneronSTS
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Blake Hord from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. came up with a model to predict how gas and dust swirl around stars where planets form #RegeneronSTS
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Natalia Hajlasz also started a STEMinism club at her high school to get girls into science! #RegeneronSTS
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Krithika Iyer from Plano, Tx., designed an educational app that provides teacher feedback based on a kid’s mood. #RegeneronSTS
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Apoorv Khandelwal of Sammamish, Wash., designed a better membrane to take the salt out of drinking water. #RegeneronSTS
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Nathaniel Lee of Jericho, N.Y., came up with a way to modify a laser using ceramics. He wants to use it to detect disease. #RegeneronSTS
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Dylan Li of New York City developed a new drug to help treat diabetes and obesity. #RegeneronSTS
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Vrinda Madan of Orlando, Fla., conducted a screen and found two new chemicals that could treat malaria. #RegeneronSTS
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Prathik Naidu of Potomac Falls, Va., designed a program to look for changes in genes that lead to cancer. #RegeneronSTS
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Ethan Novek of Greenwich, Conn., designed a system to capture carbon dioxide. He’s already got a patent on it! #RegeneronSTS
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Emily Peterson of St. James, N.Y., studied how squamous cell carcinoma might spread. #RegeneronSTS
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Laura Pierson of Oakland, Calif., developed new ways to study groups of numbers or objects. #RegeneronSTS
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Evani Radiya-Dixit of San Jose, Calif., looked at differences in how genes are controlled in cancer. #RegeneronSTS
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Arjun Ramani of Wast Lafayette, Ind., developed an algorithm to find connections in large networks…like your Facebook! #RegeneronSTS
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David Rekhtman of Bethesda, Md., studied how light and heat can make cancer cells kill themselves. #RegeneronSTS
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Audrey Saltzman of Pleasantville, N.Y., measured how a neutron star yanks matter away from its partner. #RegeneronSTS
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Manan Shah of Los Altos, Calif., created a computer model to identify breast cancers. #RegeneronSTS
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Arjun Subramaniam of Cupertino, Calif., designed a program to analyze antibodies and predict which best fight disease. #RegeneronSTS
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Alec Sun of Lexington, Mass., proved that a family of rational Cherednik algebras can be analyzed the same way. #RegeneronSTS
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Jessica Tian of San Diego, Calif., designed a dip to keep cellulose fibers bacteria-free. #RegeneronSTS https://tinyurl.com/gwrmbcn
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Teen invents a dip to keep germs away | Science News for StudentsBethany Brookshire. Mar 13, 2017 — 1:08 pm EST … Jessica Tian, 17, has come up with a way to keep bacteria away. She created germ-free papers by dunking … -
Archana Verma of Jericho, N.Y., studied how dyes absorb energy to make better solar panels. #RegeneronSTS
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Stefan Wan of Wellington, Fla., designed a method to slurp fertilizer, and spit it out to use again https://tinyurl.com/h546cpa #RegeneronSTS
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Teen converts water pollutant into a plant fertilizerToo much phosphate can fuel algal growth, which can rob oxygen from the water. This can suffocate fish and other wildlife. Stefan Wan found a way to collect that pollutant, which can later be used as a farm nutrient. -
Felix Wang of Newton, Mass., solved a math question that had remained unsolved since it was posed in 1973. #RegeneronSTS
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Jackson Weaver of Jersey City, N.J., studied whether electricity could drive an enzyme reaction…using turnips! #RegeneronSTS
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Julian Wellman of Ann Arbor, Mi., worked on a mathematical sequence problem…that is best explained while he juggles. #RegeneronSTS pic.twitter.com/VAIRd5rFMm -
Derek Woo of Greenwich, Conn., designed a method to get pesticide out of plants, and away from bees. #RegeneronSTS
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Byron Xu of Sugar Land, Tx., used sound waves to measure ocean water temperatures. #RegeneronSTS
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Amber Yang of Windermere, Fla., made a computer program to track space junk. https://tinyurl.com/hjcqfg6 #RegeneronSTS
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Student programs computer to predict path of space trashPeople are already using space as a garbage dump, which could prove dangerous to future space travelers. A teen set out to track space junk using only her home computer. -
Michael Yang of Matthews, N.C., made a model to predict how animals like ants behave collectively #RegeneronSTS
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Aaron Yeiser of Schwenksville, Penn., developed new math to eventually make better airplane wings. #RegeneronSTS
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Mary Zhu of Nashua, N.H., made a model that predicts the economic and environmental impact of a carbon tax. #RegeneronSTS
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There they are, the 40 #RegeneronSTS finalists! pic.twitter.com/1P9KqzUChJ -
Now the Seaborg Award Winner, named for Glenn Seaborg, the #Nobel winning chemist (seaborgium!) who loved community #RegeneronSTS
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The Seaborg Award Winner this year is Jackson Weaver! Go Jackson! #RegeneronSTS
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Jackson says he found many great friends at the #regeneronSTS
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The #regeneronSTS finalists had to design a dragon in judging! Jackson’s had a tail with lots of torque.
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And now the top 10! Presented by judge (and computer scientist) Sudarshan Chawathe. #RegeneronSTS
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10! Stefan Wan! For his design to suck up fertilizer, and recycle it. https://tinyurl.com/h546cpa #RegeneronSTS Wins $40K!
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9! Vrinda Madan, who found two new chemicals that could treat malaria. #RegeneronSTS Wins $50K!
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8! Ethan Novek for his patented design to capture carbon! #RegeneronSTS Taking home $60k!
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7! Prathik Naidu who designed a program to scan genomes for cancer! #RegeneronSTS Wins $70K!
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6! Laura Pierson for her math project on mathematically symmetric groups! #RegeneronSTS Wins $80k!
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5! Archana Verma who studied how dyes can produce electricity to make better solar panels! #RegeneronSTS Wins $90k!
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4! Byron Xu who used sound data to study ocean temperatures over time! #RegeneronSTS Wins $100k!
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Third place, Arjun Ramani, who’s algorithm helps find connections like the ones in your Facebook! #RegeneronSTS $150K win!
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2nd place, Aaron Yeiser, who’s work on differential equations might one day design a better airplane wing! #RegeneronSTS $175k win!
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And FIRST PLACE: Indrani Das for her work on traumatic brain injury! #RegeneronSTS Wins $250K!
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Congratulations to all the finalists! What wonderful projects and people! #RegeneronSTS pic.twitter.com/6JBdulO6Bw
