Four Ossining Students Are Semifinalists in National Competition

Four of the 300 Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholars chosen from around the country are Ossining High School students.

Regeneron, which runs the nation’s most prestigious pre-college science competition, chose the 300 students from a pool of 1,818 entrants and announced the semifinalists this week. They were selected based on their exceptional research skills, commitment to academics, promise as scientists and innovative thinking. Each receives a $2,000 award, with an additional $2,000 going to the scholar’s school.

The four scholars from OHS are in seniors in the Science Research Program. These are the students and the titles of their research projects:

• Sarah Hoffman: Exacerbated Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology in Female Hippocampus and Frontal Cortex of Tg6799 Mice and Humans Relative to Males
• Skyler Jones: Large Polaron Formation as a Charge Carrier Protection Mechanism in MAPbBr3 and CsPbBr3 Perovskite Crystals
• Catherine Kamp: Ubiquitous Microplastic Pollution found in Tributaries of the Hudson River: A GIS and Field Based Approach
• Emma San Martin: A Novel Method for Modeling Metabolic Energy Expenditure as a Function of Percentage Normal Walking Speed for Transtibial Amputees.

“Being selected as a semifinalist is an enormous honor because it reflects both the work ethic needed to generate a quality research project and the qualities of study, leadership, and perseverance needed to match the competition's general criteria,” Emma said. “So, the fact that OHS has four of the 300 slots for students all around the country is testament to the quality of both the individual students and of the OHS Science Research program, which has consistently done well in the Science Talent Search.”

Regeneron, which took over the competition from Intel last year, will announce the 40 finalists on Jan. 23. They will spend a week Washington in March, where they will compete for more than $1.8 million in awards, including the top award of $250,000. The talent search is produced by the Society for Science & the Public.

The semifinalists come from 35 states. New York has 105 semifinalists, more than any other state. The top categories for this year’s projects are cellular and molecular biology, medicine and health, and environmental science.

“These brilliant students have already made remarkable scientific achievements at a young age, and we are eager to see where their scientific journeys take them next,” Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for Science & the Public, said in a statement.

(Photo, from left to right: Sarah Hoffman, Skyler Jones, Catherine Kamp, Emma San Martin.)