Byram Hills High School Senior Named Regeneron Finalist

Byram Hills High School senior Audrey Saltzman has been named one of 40 finalists across the country in the prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search for her studies of a neutron star 19,000 light-years from Earth, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and the Society for Science & the Public announced Tuesday.

With the honor, she receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington D.C. for the final round of the competition, where the young scholars will vie for a top prize of $250,000. Audrey, who received a call that she had been chosen in the middle of a clarinet lesson Monday afternoon, said she appreciated the honor.

“I was speechless when I found out,” she said. “All I could come up with to say was ‘thank you,’ so I said that about twelve times.”

David Keith, the director of the Authentic Science Research Program at Byram Hills High School, praised Audrey for the distinction. He lauded the determination she showed in pursuing her research under the guidance of a mentor, Dr. Jon M. Miller of the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy.

“Audrey’s tenacity is extraordinary,” Mr. Keith said. “With incredible aplomb, she tackled problem after problem given to her by her mentor. It was marvelous to watch.”

Audrey and two of her Byram Hills classmates – Yasamin Bayley and Isabelle Chong – were among the 300 semifinalists chosen in the contest from across the country early this month. Bayley’s project showed how the production of calcite in a species of marine plant was affected by climate change, while Isabelle created a “laser cane” that can help blind people detect objects around them.

Audrey chose her project Swift XRT and UVOT Investigation of Low-mass X-ray Binary 1RXS J180408.9-342058 because she had long been fascinated by neutron stars – the remnants of dead stars – which she describes as “among the most extreme things in the universe.” She awoke at 7 a.m. daily last summer to complete the project, which included using X-ray and ultraviolet data from NASA to study the celestial object that had “gone into outburst” in 2012. She made progress toward determining its radius and also examined the source of ultraviolet light that came from a phenomenon known as “reprocessing.”

Space is where “our understanding of physics is tested to its limits,” she said, noting that such research provided support for the theory of relativity, as one example.

“There’s a lot that we can learn about our world from studying space,” she said.

The semifinalists each received $2,000 for that round, and the school received $6,000 total. But their selection brought more than prize money. It also brought attention to the school’s Authentic Science Research Program when the students were visited recently by officials from Regeneron and Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino.

At the final round in Washington in March, Audrey and the 39 other contestants will display their projects and meet with noted scientists. Alumni of the program hold more than 100 of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including the Nobel Price and National Medal of Science, according to the Society for Science & the Public.

Mr. Keith said making it to the final round sets a good example for all.

“It’s an important honor because it raises the bar of achievement for everyone just knowing that that standard exists,” he said.

She is one of three Westchester students to advance to finalist. This year's crop of Scholars were announced earlier this month.

Also advancing are

• Chung, Jonathan H Hendrick Hudson High School, Montrose, NY Interaction of Circulating Gut Microbiota-generated Metabolites with the Function and Expression of SLC6A3, the Dopamine Transporter
• Hord, Blake Dobbs Ferry High School, Dobbs Ferry, NY High Mass Planet Spiral Shocks as a Source of Infrared Emission from Protoplanetary Disks