Regeneron ISEF 2023 Media Kit

The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF), a program of the Society for Science for over 70 years, is the world’s largest global science competition for high schoolers. In total, awards valued at nearly U.S. $9 million were awarded to the 2023 finalists, who were evaluated based on their projects’ creativity, innovation and level of scientific inquiry. The competition featured over 1,600 young scientists representing 49 states and 64 countries, regions and territories across the world.

We invite reporters and media to contact us to set up interviews with this incredible group of students. We hope to see you cover these inspiring winners of the Regeneron ISEF 2023!

 

The ISEF 2023 Top Award Winners - Dallas, TX

Regeneron ISEF Top Award Winner Photos and Videos

Kaitlyn Wang ISEF 2023 PHYS056 Grand Award Winner

Kaitlyn Wang, first place $75,000 George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award

Kaitlyn Wang 17, of San José, CA, won first place and received the $75,000 George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award, named in honor of the Regeneron President and Chief Scientific Officer, for finding an efficient way to identify certain exoplanets that orbit very closely around their stars. Previous techniques used to detect these ultra-short-period planets required enormous computational power but were not as effective at identifying these planets. Kaitlyn surmounted that problem by creating a special algorithm that runs on cheap hardware and results in much faster and higher-precision findings. Using her research, she says she found the smallest of these planets ever discovered.

Saathvik Kannan, ISEF 2023, Grand Award Winner

Saathvik Kannan, $50,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Award

Saathvik Kannan, 17, of Columbia, Missouri, received one of two Regeneron Young Scientist Awards of $50,000 for using biocomputational methods to understand the causes of heightened infectivity in the disease mpox after it reemerged in 2022. Saathvik’s approach, named Bioplex, uses a combination of machine learning and three-dimensional comparative protein modeling to decode structures like those that enable the mpox virus to replicate. This allowed him to identify the mutations in the virus that likely made it more infectious as well as other mutations that could make it resistant to antibiotics. Saathvik believes scientists will also be able to apply Bioplex to future outbreaks of other viruses.

ISEF 2023 Grand Award Winners: Teepakorn Keawumdee, 17; Pannathorn Siri, 15; and, Poon Trakultangmun, 18, of Bangkok, Thailand

Teepakorn Keawumdee, Pannathorn Siri and Poon Trakultangmun, $50,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Award

Teepakorn Keawumdee, 17; Pannathorn Siri, 15; and, Poon Trakultangmun, 18, of Bangkok, Thailand, received the second Regeneron Young Scientist Award of $50,000 for developing an innovative incubation chamber that promotes the survival of the green lacewing insect, a natural predator of the mealybug, a harmful pest. In nature, the green lacewing has a low survival rate, but the team’s new system increased the lacewing’s survival rate five-fold. In field tests, their incubation system was an effective alternative to insecticides and lowered the mealybug population density nearly four-fold.

BMED028 Natasha Kulviwat, ISEF 2023 Dallas, Grand Award Winner

Natasha Kulviwat, The Gordon E. Moore Award of $50,000 for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations

Natasha Kulviwat, 16, of Jericho, New York, received the Gordon E. Moore Award of $50,000 for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations for her search for biomarkers to help prevent suicides. By analyzing de-identified brain tissue from 20 people, Natasha measured levels of two proteins, cytokine and claudin-5, and found that neuroinflammation and claudin-5 were increased in the brains of suicide cases. Her work suggests that high levels of the protein claudin-5 could serve as pre-markers for suicide and that certain anti-inflammatory drugs might decrease claudin-5 levels.

ETSD015 Yuyang Wang, 16, of Shanghai, China, ISEF 2023 Grand Award Winner

Yuyang Wang, $10,000 Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation

Yuyang Wang, 16, of Shanghai, China, received the Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation of $10,000 for his development of an inchworm-style stick-climbing robot. This type of robot conventionally has grabbers that allow it to climb over and under obstructions like a caterpillar does, but he added skateboard-like wheels, which allow it to perform better than existing inchworm-style robots when the angle is less than 22°. The hybrid wheel/grabber assembly is novel, and he believes his robot will work well for tasks that are potentially dangerous to humans, such as inspecting damaged high-voltage lines.

ISEF 2023 Grand Award Winners: Rishabh Ranjan, 17, and Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, 17, of Louisville, Kentucky, received the H. Robert Horvitz Prize for Fundamental Research

Rishabh Ranjan and Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, $10,000 H. Robert Horvitz Prize for Fundamental Research

Rishabh Ranjan, 17, and Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, 17, of Louisville, Kentucky, received the H. Robert Horvitz Prize for Fundamental Research of $10,000 for building a custom, automated system to detect gastrointestinal cancer before serious symptoms appear. The team’s system combines robotics and machine learning to analyze blood samples to identify healthy patients, as well as those with pancreatic, colorectal or hepatic cancers, in only three hours at an estimated cost of only $300. Detecting these cancers before they metastasize could make treatment much simpler and more effective.

ISEF 2023 Grand Award Winner, Eugene Chen, 16, of Shanghai, China

Eugene Chen, $10,000 Peggy Scripps Award for Science Communication

Eugene Chen, 16, of Shanghai, China, received the Peggy Scripps Award for Science Communication of $10,000 for his inexpensive energy-saving device that recycles the condensation produced by air conditioners to improve their energy efficiency. His device directs the cooling fan’s airflow to spray the air conditioner’s condensation at its own condenser, lowering its temperature and thus reducing power consumption and improving its energy efficiency. Eugene believes his easy-to-install device can reduce the amount of electricity used by air conditioners by more than 10%.

Interview George Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Cofounder, President and Chief Scientific Officer at Regeneron

We invite you to interview George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Cofounder, President and Chief Scientific Officer at Regeneron to learn more about this year’s winners of the Regeneron ISEF. Please email Joseph Brown at joseph.brown2@regeneron.com for assistance.

About George

  • George headshot
  • About George
  • Quote from George about Regeneron ISEF 2023:“We are thrilled to celebrate this year’s Regeneron ISEF finalists as they join our growing community of bold individuals tackling the world’s most pressing challenges,” said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron. “I applaud today’s finalists and all the ISEF participants for their relentless pursuit of groundbreaking ideas that ignite positive and sustainable change in our world. I owe so much of my passion for science to the experiences and mentors I had in high school, and I hope that today is just the beginning of a lifelong commitment to STEM for many of these students.”
Notable Alumni Headshot George Yancopoulos

Interview Maya Ajmera, the President & CEO of the Society for Science

We invite you to interview the President & CEO of the Society for Science, Maya Ajmera, to learn more about Regeneron ISEF and this year’s winners. Please email Aparna Paul, Director of Communications at Society for Science for assistance at apaul@societyforscience.org.

  • Maya headshot
  • About Maya
  • Quote from Maya about Regeneron ISEF 2023:“Congratulations to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2023 winners,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO, Society for Science and Executive Publisher, Science News. “I am humbled by the creativity and determination demonstrated by these exceptional students and proud of all they have accomplished with their outstanding research abilities. Together, these students are building a community of extraordinary scientists and engineers from various academic disciplines and geographies to solve the world’s most intractable problems.”
President & CEO of the Society for Science, Maya Ajmera
Photo courtesy of Society for Science

Watch the Regeneron ISEF 2023 Awards Ceremony!

The Grand Awards Ceremony was held on the morning of May 19 and featured the announcement of the top prize of $75,000. In total, awards valued at nearly U.S. $9 million were awarded to the finalists, who were evaluated based on their projects’ creativity, innovation and level of scientific inquiry. The competition featured over 1,600 young scientists representing 49 states and 64 countries, regions and territories across the world.

Learn more about the Regeneron ISEF Grand Awards