30 Hudson Valley Students Named Regeneron Semifinalists

The Regeneron Science Talent Search has named 300 high school seniors as scholars in the
nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition.

The 300 scholars represent 38 states, the District of Columbia and two countries. Among the scholars, 30 students from 17 high schools represent the Hudson Valley.

Ardsley High School

• Rivera, Alexandra, 17, A Step in Understanding Glacial Flow: Exploring the Effects of Entrained Insoluble Debris on Mechanical Properties of Polycrystalline Ice

Byram Hills High School

• Abbruzzese, Samantha, 17, Examining the Role of Transcription Factors, Nr4a1, Foxp1, and Olig2, in the Development of Medium Spiny Neurons from the q175 Mouse Model of Huntington’s Disease
• Chang, Alan, 17, Utilizing a Novel Machine Learning Pipeline for Single-Cell Transcriptomic Characterization of a Remodeled Tumor Microenvironment
• Chernoff, Rachel, 17, Characterizing the Source of Microglia Proliferation Following Ischemic Preconditioning
• Colella-Albino, Alessandra, 18, Examining Variability Across Neuropsychological Test Results as an Indicator of PostTreatment Cognitive Change in Cancer Patients Over Time
• Jacobs, Ethan, 17, Optimizing and Applying Environmental DNA (eDNA) Detection Methods to Analyze the Presence of River Otters in the Northeast
• Perlman, Brent, 17, Human Photosynthesis: Functional Chloroplast Sequestration in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells
• Schwam, Jonah, 18, Elucidating the Role of Muscle Stem Cell Correction in Regenerating Muscle in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: The Development of a Novel CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Knock-in System

Briarcliff High School

• Daefler, Anna-Samsara, 17 Mesoderm Formation and Nodal Signaling in Zebrafish Embryos and Blastoderm Explants

Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua

• Kumar, Chirag, 17, A Machine Learning Approach to Estimating the Error in Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Measurements
• Singh, Aditi, 17, Descriptive and Normative Accounts of Color Localization Performance in Visual Short-Term Memory
• Zhang, Anna, 17, Design and Analysis of an Artificial Intelligence Based System for Real-Time Detection of Texting and Driving

Walter Panas High School, Cortlandt

• Bhandarkar, Riti, 17. Phylogenetics and Diversification of Pipreola riefferii, an Andean Fruiteater

John Jay High School, Cross River

• Sherr, Heather, 17, The Correlation of Sodium Palmitate Acetate to Metabolic Memory via Reactive Oxygen Species in Hyperglycemic Neonatal Rat Ventricular Myocytes

Croton-Harmon High School

• Stok, Melissa, 18, Printing the Path: Studying a Gelatin-Alginate Composite Hydrogel for Translation of 3D Bioprinting Research

Irvington High School

• Dunefsky, Jacob, 17, WellPATH: A Mobile Application to Reduce Suicidal Ideation in Seniors
• Horowitz, Annie, 18, Elucidating New Species of Distichopathes (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Antipatharia)

Somers High School

• Joseph, Rachel, 18, Optimization of Thermal Hydrolysis for Increased Biogas Generation in Wastewater Treatment

Ossining High School

• Montgomery, Emma, 18 Improved Base Editors and a Novel Sensor Assay Advance Gene Editing Technology
• Sukumar, John, 17, Elucidating the Factors that Induce Hyperfocus in Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Through the Use of a Novel Time-Constrained Stroop Task
• Ocheltree, Elliot, 17, Designing Aerodynamic Shapes Through the Novel Combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics, Pressure Difference Minimization and Erosive Techniques

Trinity-Pawling School

• Wang, Ziqing, 18, Immobilization of Polymer Dots Grafted TiO2 Nanohybrids on Gauze for Photodegradation of Organic Pollutants

Pelham Memorial High School

• Wong, Caitlin, 17, Assessing the Plasticity of Pain Through the Lens of People with Limb Loss

Putnam Valley High School

• Rippon, Dora, 17, Determining the Minimum Mass of a Habitable Planet by Studying Atmospheric Oxygen Escape

Edgemont High School

• Jang, Angie, 18, Investigating the Role of Cell Cycle State During Convergent Extension in D. rerio

Lakeland Senior High School

• Ramaswamy, Jothi, 17, A Machine Learning Approach to Classifying Brain Cell Types Based on Functional Connectivity in the Primary Visual Cortex

Nyack High School

• Jiao, Lucy, 18, Strain Analysis of Al on a Variety of Semiconductors for Clean Superconductor Semiconductor Interfaces

Yorktown High School

• Satpute, Sayli, 17, A Validation of Sepsis Prediction Scores for Poor Outcome
• Shah, Shrila, 17, Improving Lung Cancer Treatment Planning and Delivery Using an Artificially Intelligent Real-time Quantification of Lung Lobe Structures from CT
• Yang, Diane, 18, Varying Aspect Ratios of Self-Sustaining Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Each of the scholars and their respective school receive a $2,000 award.

The scholars were selected from a pool of nearly 2,000 applications sent in by 601 high schools in 48 states, two U.S. territories and eligible students living in seven other countries, according to a press release.

“The scholars were selected based on their exceptional research skills, commitment to academics, innovative thinking and promise as scientists,” the press release said. “This year, research projects cover topics from bioengineering to environmental science to physics.”

Of the 300 scholars, 40 will be named finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search on Jan. 23. The finalists will travel to Washington D.C. March 7-13 to compete for more than $1.8 million in awards provided by Regeneron.

Regeneron, based in Westchester County, became a sponsor of the competition in 2017. The competition is founded and produced by Society for Science & the Public.

Photo via Shutterstock