Whiz Kids: 3 Millburn Teens Make List Of Top 300 Science Scholars

MILLBURN, NJ — Three Millburn High School seniors have been named by The Society for Science as a top 300 Scholar in the 82nd Regeneron Science competition.

Eric Wang, Jacob Winick, Andy Xu are seniors in the Millburn High School Science Research Program taught by Dr. Susan Arrigoni under the supervision of Science Department Chair Gina Cocchiaro.

As part of the Science Research Program, students apply to the Regeneron Science Talent Search. Regeneron STS is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition for high school seniors.

The three students were selected from 1,949 applications from 627 high schools across 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and four other countries. They had to submit original, independent research projects, as well as essays and recommendations.

Each scholar will receive $2,000, and Millburn High School will also receive $2,000 per scholar to use toward STEM-related activities.

The announcement of the top 40 finalists will take place on Jan. 24. Finalists will each receive $25,000 and will participate in a week-long competition in March.

The Projects

Their projects represented research in several science disciplines:

Eric Wang (plant sciences)

Project Title: Effects of Various Soil Microbiomes on Native and Invasive Plants

Jacob Winick (cellular and molecular biology)

Project Title: Targeting Neoantigens Derived From the ZRSR2 Mutation in Hematologic Malignancies

Andy Xu (computer science)

Project Title: VAPOR: A Novel Approach to Power Forecasting in a Photovoltaic Microgrid

Finalists will share their research with the public, participate in judging, meet top scientists and form relationships with one another as they compete for more than $1.8 million, including the first-place prize of $250,000.

The competition is owned and produced by Society for Science.

Throughout its history, the competition’s alumni have been honored with 13 Nobel Prizes, 11 National Medals of Science, six Breakthrough Prizes, 22 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and two Fields Medals.

The full list of this year’s scholars is available here: Top 300 STS Scholars