Award Value: $250,000
City, State: Pasadena, CA

Matteo Paz, 18, of Pasadena, surveyed nearly 200 terabytes of astronomical data in search of undiscovered brightness-variable objects for his Regeneron Science Talent Search space science project. After over a decade of scanning the sky, NASA’s WISE space telescope collected all-sky infrared data, creating a treasure trove of nearly 200 billion lines of data for time-based astronomical research. In his project, Matteo developed waveform-based machine learning methods to sort the entire catalog and efficiently detect and characterize potential variables within the telescope’s data, including a machine-learning algorithm dubbed VARnet. He produced a complete census of 1.9 million infrared variable objects, 1.5 million of which are new discoveries, including supermassive black holes, newborn stars and supernovae. His project was carried out as a staff researcher under NASA funding.

Award Value: $175,000
City, State: Durham, NC

Ava Grace Cummings, 18, of Smithfield, developed a model of STAC3 disorder in fruit flies to test treatments for her Regeneron Science Talent Search medicine and health project. STAC3 disorder is a rare genetic muscular condition formerly called Native American myopathy. Seeing her friends and family in the Lumbee Tribe struggle with it, Ava felt driven to raise awareness about the disease and the need for new treatments. She successfully created a strain of fruit fly that doesn’t express the dstac gene, mimicking the disorder. Then, she tested the experimental drug Tirasemtiv and an herbal extract of the common nettle (Urtica dioica) in her flies. She found that treatment with both the drug and herb, as well as the herb alone, led to adult flies that climbed better and larvae that traveled further. Ava believes that Indigenous remedies are worth studying to treat muscle weakness.

Award Value: $150,000
City, State: Bellevue, WA

Owen Jianwen Zhang, 18, of Bellevue, developed a solution to a problem about objects called 3-uniform hypergraphs for his Regeneron Science Talent Search mathematics project. This project is in an area of theoretical math called combinatorics, which focuses on counting and the properties of certain structures. Combinatorics has applications within other fields of math and computer science. Three-uniform hypergraphs are like clusters of people in social networks. Each edge of the hypergraph connects three points called vertices. These connected points are like three close friends in the network. These structures can vary by how these vertices are connected, creating unique formations.

Award Value: $100,000
City, State: Honolulu, HI

Logan Lee, 18, of Honolulu, studied how to better control mosquito populations for his Regeneron Science Talent Search animal sciences project. More than 30 native Hawaiian birds are extinct because of avian malaria from invasive mosquitoes. Currently, mosquito populations are controlled by releasing reproductively incompatible males into the wild. When they mate, the wild females lay eggs that don’t hatch. This lowers the mosquito population, but reproductively incompatible males often struggle to survive in the wild. In his project, Logan improved their survival by inoculating them with wild mosquito bacteria. Wild mosquitoes have important bacteria that benefit their health and development. His bacterial transplant helped the sterile males grow faster and survive better in the cold.

Award Value: $90,000
City, State: San Francisco, CA

Rivka Lipkovitz, 18, of San Francisco, used statistical modeling to study U.S. voter ID laws for her Regeneron Science Talent Search social sciences project. Some believe these laws prevent fraud; others say they stop people from voting. Research on their effects on voter turnout has mixed results. For her project, Rivka analyzed voter turnout data between 1984 and 2020. She compared states with strict voter ID laws to those without. Rivka used statistical methods called matrix completion and synthetic difference-in-differences. She created a counterfactual estimate of voter turnout if states had not passed voter ID laws. States that passed strict laws after 2008 had a 2.4% drop in presidential election turnout. States that passed laws before or during 2008 had no change in turnout. In midterm elections, voter turnout appeared to increase. She believes her findings can help policymakers decide whether to pass or change voter ID laws.

Award Value: $80,000
City, State: Levittown, NY

Melody Heeju Hong, 17, of Wantagh, developed a powerful, flexible statistical model for her Regeneron Science Talent Search computational biology and bioinformatics project. Her model analyzes sites in the human genome called trans-methylation quantitative trait loci (trans-mQTL). Changes at these sites can help explain patterns in DNA methylation, which can change gene expression. In her project, Melody created a model for mapping trans-mQTL. She wrote the code for the model herself. Her work could improve understanding of how genetics and the environment are related to complex diseases and aging.

Award Value: $70,000
City, State: Olympia, WA

Kevin Shen, 18, of Olympia, created a method to enhance the control and stability of oblique-wing aircraft for his Regeneron Science Talent Search engineering project. Increasing fuel efficiency is one of the main goals of airplane design. Decades ago, engineers discovered that setting a plane’s wings at an oblique angle to its body lowers its overall drag, making flight more efficient. However, oblique-wing aircraft are harder to control, limiting their progress. For his project, Kevin programmed a flight computer to control an oblique-wing model airplane he designed and built using 3D-printed parts. The flight computer assesses the effect of various angles and acceleration states to automatically stabilize the oblique wing aircraft. Kevin’s flight tests showed that the flight system enabled better aircraft control and additional computational fluid dynamics simulations demonstrated reduced drag.

Award Value: $60,000
City, State: San Jose, CA

Minghao Zou, 18, of Santa Clara, CA, simulated particle motion near sources of neutrinos for his Regeneron Science Talent Search space science project. Neutrinos are nearly massless subatomic particles. They are abundant in the universe but very difficult to detect, so they are shrouded in mystery. In his project, Minghao used simulations instead of direct observations to study neutrinos. He created an algorithm that considers phenomena that affect particle motion in extreme astrophysical conditions. These include electromagnetic and gravitational forces and interactions with nearby particles. He tested his model on known cases of neutrino emission, comparing what he found to known solutions. He made the code open-source and public for astrophysicists to study these simulations on a larger scale.

Award Value: $50,000
City, State:  Raleigh, NC

Thanush Patlolla, 17, of Cary, solved a major problem plaguing quantum computing for his Regeneron Science Talent Search physics project. Quantum computing methods depend on predicting exactly how quantum particles respond to one another. All the particles in a quantum system affect each other, so measuring the energy of any one particle can cause unpredictable changes in another. In his project, Thanush approximated the density of electrons using a finite nuclear model. This could help physicists avoid extensive computation to know how the nucleus affects electrons. Using a mathematical strategy called a density function, Thanush used the model to map electron distribution in a nuclear simulation. The map increased the accuracy of energy distribution predictions by 0.6%. This is an essential step toward effective quantum computing, which will rely on measuring quantum particles with near-perfect accuracy.

Award Value: $40,000
City, State:  Exeter, NH

Ray Zhang, 17, of Chantilly, VA, studied how to treat fungal infections for his Regeneron Science Talent Search cellular and molecular biology project. The fungus Fusarium causes infections in people and crops. Fusarium often forms sticky communities of cells called biofilms that better withstand drug treatments. When Ray was volunteering at the Prince William Medical Center, he met a child with a rare fungal infection. This inspired him to find better treatment options for these infections. In his project, Ray studied how Fusarium builds biofilms. He used fluorescence spectroscopy to see how the fungi grew under different nutrient sources and temperatures. Then, he tested the effects of three antifungal drugs on the biofilms. He found that when he combined the three drugs, they better treated the biofilms than each drug used alone.