Regeneron Science Talent Search 2018 Finalists

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Three Local High School Students Named Regeneron Science Talent Search 2018 Finalists
Are Also Center for Excellence in Education Alumni

CEE’s Research Science Institute alumni will compete for top awards in March

McLean, VA (January 26, 2018) — A trio of high-achieving DC-area high school students are among 40 Regeneron Science Talent Search 2018 Finalists. The three scholars are also recent graduates of the prestigious Research Science Institute (RSI) program sponsored jointly by DC’s Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and MIT, where the program is hosted in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Nationwide, a total of ten RSI 2017 alumni were named to the list of 40 Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists.

“I’m elated so many RSI alumni are represented among the finalists of such a prominent academic and research competition. The RSI program is one of the most prestigious international summer research programs in the world for high school students. It has clearly prepared them for success,” said Maite Ballestero, CEE Executive Vice President of Programs.
 
One local finalist, Franklyn Wang (RSI ’17), Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia, said CEE’s RSI program taught him that success in science depends not only on the quality of your ideas but also on the effectiveness of your presentation. “By letting me write a scientific paper under the tutelage of an experienced mentor at RSI, I was very prepared when the time came for me to write my paper for this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search," said Wang whose research topic was “Monodromy Groups of Indecomposable Rational Functions.”
 
Another metro-DC area finalist, David Wu (RSI ’17), Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland, said CEE’s RSI program challenged him in ways that he never expected. “The most difficult yet fruitful part of the research process at the six week RSI summer research program was learning how to effectively communicate to my peers and mentors the essential ideas on which the rest of my project relied. RSI expanded my thinking exponentially, put a spotlight on my friends' and my untapped potential, and inspired me to believe that what may seem impossible today is, in fact, possible,” said Wu whose research topic was “Nonuniform Distributions of Patterns of Sequences of Primes in Prime Moduli.”
 
The third CEE RSI alumni from the DC-area who was named a Regeneron Science Talent Search finalist is:
  • Sumathipala, Marissa, Broad Run High School, Ashburn, Virginia, whose research project focused on “Reinventing Cardiovascular Disease Therapy: A Novel Dual Therapeutic with FOXO Transcription Factor and AMP Kinase”

Forty Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists were selected from a pool of 1,800 highly qualified entrants based on their projects' scientific rigor and their potential to become world-changing scientific leaders. The finalists will travel to Washington, D.C., from March 8-14, 2018, where they will undergo a rigorous judging process and compete for more than $1.8 million in awards.

The 7 Other RSI Alumni Named Regeneron Science Talent Search 2018 Finalists

Balachandar, Sidhika
Buchholz High School,
Gainesville, Florida
Picoscale Mechanics of Atomically Engineered Materials
  Singh, Isani
Cherry Creek High School,
Greenwood Village, Colorado
Investigating the Developmental Requirements of Sex Chromosome Genes Affected in Turner Syndrome
Hutchison, Charley
St. Andrew's Episcopal School,
Ridgeland, Mississippi
Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Deeply-Supercooled Liquids
  Tian, Grace
The Wellington School,
Columbus, Ohio
Linear Upper Bound on the Ribbonlength of Torus Knots and Twist
Patil, Advait
Lynbrook High School,
San Jose, California
A High-Throughput Multi-Omics Framework for Global Identification of Novel Molecular Interactions and Genome-Scale Modeling of Multicellular Ecosystems
  Vale, Vinjai
Phillips Exeter Academy,
Exeter, New Hampshire
A New Paradigm for Computer Vision Based on Compositional Representation
Payra, Syamantak
Clear Brook High School,
Friendswood, Texas
A Smart Bionic Leg Orthosis: The Design, Development, and Evaluation of an Orthotic Device for Comprehensive Restoration of Gait Characteristics Across Everyday Mobility Scenarios
   

 

About the Center for Excellence in Education
The Center for Excellence in Education was founded in 1983 by the late Admiral H.G. Rickover and Joann P. DiGennaro, President of the Center. The Center's mission is to nurture high school and university scholars to careers of excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and to encourage collaboration between and among leaders in the global community. CEE’s programs include the Research Science Institute (RSI), the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO), and the Teacher Enrichment Program (TEP).
 
Media Contact: Bill McIntyre, 703-448-9062 ext. 229
   

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Center for Excellence in Education: https://www.cee.org