2 Rockville Students Named Scholars In STEM Competition

ROCKVILLE, MD — Two Rockville high schoolers have been named scholars by the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation's oldest and most prestigious math and science competition for 12th graders.

Ivy Han and Tesia Shi, of Richard Montgomery High School, are among 300 scholars selected from a pool of 1,964 applicants for their original research projects and "their overall potential as future leaders of the scientific community," the competition organizers, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Society for Science & the Public, said in a press statement.

The scholars from Richard Montgomery High School completed the following projects:

• Ivy Han, A Novel, High-Throughput, Spectrometer-Based Functional Assay for Drosophila Nephrocytes
• Tesia Shi, A Novel Method to Identify Common Pathways and Genes Through Meta-Analysis of Microarray Expression Data of Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Major Depressive Disorder Reveals Two Common Affected Lmx1a and Cct8p1 Genes and one Common Affected TCA Pathway

Each scholar is awarded $2,000, with an extra $2,000 going to their respective school.

"Regeneron congratulates this year's Science Talent Search scholars, who have applied deep curiosity and rigorous research skills to the important scientific questions of today," said Hala Mirza, senior vice president of Corporate Communications and Citizenship at Regeneron. "These students are the future leaders of tomorrow and are using innovative thinking to improve our world. We hope their achievements will inspire other young people to engage with STEM."

Regeneron, a biotechnology company focused on pharmaceuticals, became a sponsor of the competition in 2017. The competition is founded and produced by Society for Science & the Public.

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