Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholars Selected From Vienna

VIENNA, VA — The Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation's most prestigious science and math competition, has named three Vienna seniors among the 300 scholars for 2020. The scholars and their schools will be awarded $2,000 each. The scholars were announced by the Society for Science & the Public and sponsor Regeneron.

The competition allows scholars to present their research on a national stage. Scholars tend to bring new perspectives to significant global challenges with projects covering topics from medicine and health to environmental science.

Scholars were selected from 1,993 applications from 49 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and eight countries. The 300 scholars are described as having "exceptional research skills, commitment to academics, innovative thinking and promise as scientists."

Forty finalists will be named on January 22. The finalists will compete for more than $1.8 million in awards in Washington, DC from March 5-11. The top winner receives $250,000. Last year's winner was Ana Humphrey of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria.

Alumni of the Regeneron Science Talent Search have gone on to win 11 National Medals of Science, five Breakthrough Prizes, 21 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships, two Fields Medals and 13 Nobel Prizes.

Here are this year's scholars from Vienna:

Justin Hu, Age: 17

James Madison High School, Vienna, VA

Project Title: Using Self Assembled Monolayers for the Reliable Fabrication of Ion-selective, Membrane-Functionalized Biochemical Sensors with the Potential for Implantation

Neha Pavuluru, Age: 17

Oakton High School, Vienna, VA

Project Title: The Investigation of 2D Monolayers for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

Anjali Sardana, Age: 17

James Madison High School, Vienna, VA

Project Title: Maturation of Excitatory Synapses in the Juvenile Rodent Hippocampus Supports Spatial Navigation Ability in the Barnes Maze

Here are the other Virginia scholars:

Evrim Ozcan, Age: 18

Potomac School, McLean, VA

Project Title: Novel Application of a Redox-probing Technique for the Non-invasive quantification of Oxidative Stress in Perspiration

Katherine Plaza, Age: 17

Potomac School, McLean, VA

Project Title: Quantification and 3D-Rendering of Growth and Bleaching of Two Coral Species upon Long and Short-Term Treatment by Microplastics

Sabrina Cai, Age: 17

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA

Project Title: Investigating synthetic lethality for brain cancer therapy

Avyuk Dixit, Age: 17

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA

Project Title: Assessing Glaucoma Progression Using a Machine Learning Model Trained on Longitudinal Visual Field and Clinical Data

Victoria Graf, Age: 17

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA

Project Title: Determining Stimulus Selection Parameters for Treatment of Neurological Disorders Using Statistical Analysis of EEG Signal Entropy

Ankit Gupta, Age: 17

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA

Project Title: StrokeSave: A Novel, High-Performance Mobile Application for Stroke Diagnosis using Deep Learning and Computer Vision

Benjamin Kang, Age: 16

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA

Project Title: All-pay auctions and applications to trade wars

Neeyanth Kopparapu, Age: 17

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA

Project Title: MRI Image Synthesis for the Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease using Deep Learning