$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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SOURCE Society for Science