Byram Hills Regeneron Finalist Heads To DC In March

ARMONK, NY — Regeneron's Science Talent Search is sending four students from the Hudson Valley to Washington, D.C. March 7-13 to compete for more than $1.8 million in awards. Brent Perlman is one of them.

They are among the 40 finalists selected last month from 300 semifinalists called Scholars (including 30 from the Hudson Valley), who were selected from more than 2,000 entrants from across the country.

Regeneron said that the finalists were chosen based on the scientific rigor of their projects and their potential to "become world-changing scientists."

The local finalists are:

• Chirag Kumar, Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua: A Machine Learning Approach to Estimating the Error in Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Measurements
• Emma Montgomery, Ossining High School, Ossining: Improved Base Editors and a Novel Sensor Assay Advance Gene Editing Technology
• Brent Perlman, Byram Hills High School, Armonk: Human photosynthesis: Functional chloroplast sequestration in human mesenchymal stem cells
• Aditi Singh, Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua: Descriptive and normative accounts of color localization performance in visual short-term memory

"The Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists are our country's most promising young scientists, and I'm thrilled to congratulate them on this outstanding academic achievement," said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron and a Science Talent Search winner in 1976. "I will never forget how participating in the Science Talent Search back when it was sponsored by Westinghouse changed my life and gave me the inspiration and confidence to pursue a career in science. I can only hope these amazing young scientists build on their success in this year's event and go on to use their scientific talents to address the many urgent challenges we face as a society, from climate change to disease."

Just by merit of being named finalists, each of the students will be awarded at least $25,000. The top 10 winners will receive awards ranging from $40,000 to the top prize of $250,000. That is in addition to the $2,000 each student received for being named a Scholar, which also included $2,000 for each of their schools.

Here are some details about their work:

"I've always been fascinated by our Earth and how it's such a complex system," Kumar said when he was named a semifinalist. "Artificial intelligence has also always intrigued me and when I found a research topic that would let me combine them, I jumped at it!"

Kumar explained his research:

Sea Surface Temperature measurements are, according to NASA, the single most important indicator of climate change. Climate change models require global and repeated Sea Surface Temperature measurements and only sensors aboard satellites can provide this. However, these sensors make errors and if we don't quantify these errors, the Sea Surface Temperature measurements can't be used with confidence in climate change models. Machine learning is a promising technique where lots of data is fed into an algorithm that strives to gain a human-like intuition for that data. Since we have millions of Sea Surface Temperature measurements, my research investigates using a machine learning approach to create better estimates of those Sea Surface Temperature measurements.

Montgomery worked on a bioengineering project to advance existing gene editing tools.

"This is an important area of research because errors in gene editing are the main obstacles that restrict our ability to move this technology into the clinical realm and directly help patients with devastating point mutation disorders," she said. "Some examples of point mutation disorders are cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia."

Perlman said he was thankful for the opportunity to share his research with such a large audience.

"I'm eager for my work to be displayed in Washington D.C., as this recognition increases the chances that its applications could one day help to improve the lives of people suffering from a variety of debilitating diseases," he said. "I would have never been able to complete my research or receive this honor without the help of my mentors at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Dr. Glenn Gaudette and Dr. Joshua Gershlak, or my science research teacher Stephanie Greenwald. I'm so grateful for all of their guidance and support throughout the past three years."

Singh said she loved Horace Greeley's science research program.

"I love the free format of the Science Research class: it gives students the opportunity to align their research with their interests and connect their learning with the outside world. But, it is not just the work we do independently—I think what makes this course so special is that we are always learning about each other's research. It's very inspiring!"

Her research, in a few words:

My research studies the limitations of visual short-term memory through statistical analysis and mathematical modeling of data from a psychophysical experiment, in which participants were tested on their memory recall ability. I use computational models to understand how people make decisions based on short-term memory, and how memory limitations manifest as reduced precision of recall. My goal is to eventually understand why these limits exist. These findings can be used in devising customized learning programs for students and treating brain disorders like Alzheimer's.

PHOTOS: Chirag Kumar, Emma Montgomery, Brent Perlman, Aditi Singh/ Regeneron Science Talent Search

SEE ALSO: 30 Hudson Valley Students Named Regeneron Semifinalists

» Find Your Patch and more news of the day, including our most-read stories
» Check Out The Hudson Valley Patches' Facebook Pages