Ossining Student Named Finalist In Prestigious Science Contest

OSSINING, NY — The 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2022, the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors, include Nyasha Nyoni of Ossining High School.

Each finalist is awarded at least $25,000, and the top 10 awards range from $40,000 to $250,000.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Society for Science said the 2022 finalists were selected from more than 1,800 highly qualified entrants based on their projects' scientific rigor and their potential to become world-changing scientists and leaders.

Science Research Program teachers Angelo Piccirillo and Valerie Holmes said Nyoni is the first African-American Ossining student to be selected as a Regeneron STS finalist.

"We already have a lot of diversity in our program, it is something that we pride ourselves on!" Holmes told Patch. "She makes history as our first African American student to rank in the top 40 for this competition."

Nyoni analyzed food and drink endorsements by celebrities and “relatable influencers” on Instagram. She showed that influencers posted more unhealthy products and more products overall than celebrities. Her findings may encourage regulation of social media marketing to underage consumers. Her project title: Unhealthy Scrolling: Instagram Influencers Endorse More Unhealthy Food and Beverage Products Compared to Celebrities.

She investigated food and beverage endorsements on Instagram by the 100 highest paid athletes, the musicians and bands behind Billboard’s Hot 100 songs in 2019, and top 100 influencers on Hopper HQ’s Instagram Rich List. She looked at the frequency and engagement rates of endorsements and the nutritional value of 952 products over a two-year period. She also surveyed adolescents about their knowledge of the influencers and celebrities and how closely the students follow them.

“What I discovered is that these social media influencers, they endorse significantly more unhealthy food and beverage products,” she said. “These influencers are kind of like a new and emerging group of advertisers. We’re mainly used to seeing celebrity endorsements.”

Influencers can get paid anywhere between $1,000 and $1 million per post for endorsing different products, said Nyoni, who worked with researchers in the Socioeconomic Evaluation of Dietary Decisions — SEED – Lab, a research collaboration between the New York University School of Medicine and School of Global Public Health. The lab’s mission is to combat obesity, reduce health disparities and impact international and domestic food policy by providing empirically supported guidance on how to improve the world’s diet.

Being selected as one of 40 Science Talent Search finalists was a surprise, she said. “I was very proud of the research that I did conduct, but I was definitely not expecting to be a finalist. There are so many amazing projects that were submitted this year and in years past.”

She is interested in psychology and social sciences, and she became more passionate about marketing, advertising and data analytics during her project. “I think I would like to be a market researcher or public health analyst, working with data and being able to predict what will happen in the future.”

In addition to science research, Nyoni has played club soccer and on the Ossining varsity girls soccer team. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she did varsity track and field at OHS. She is also active in her church, Memorial United Methodist Church in White Plains.

The 2022 finalists' research projects span a diverse range of STEM-related subjects, showcasing a breadth of knowledge and depth of passion for science. Multiple students chose to explore the wide-ranging impact of COVID-19; for instance, one studied the effect of pandemic-related economic hardship on marital functioning, and another evaluated SARS-CoV-2 respiratory droplet spread to better inform public safety measures. Some students invented novel therapeutic tools, like a mind-controlled prosthetic limb and a device for rehabilitating stroke victims, while others explored topics related to climate change, including a new method for sustainable biofuels production. Still others dove into social and political issues, including an examination of voting behavior in the United States and influencer advertising on Instagram.

"It's an honor to welcome the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) 2021 finalists to the community of alumni who share a drive and passion for science," said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron, and among the top winners of the 1976 Science Talent Search.

Yancopoulos credits his STS experience for helping put him on a path that led him and his team to invent several of the world's most important medicines, including antibody cocktail treatments for Ebola and COVID-19. "This year's finalists represent many of our nation's most promising young scientists. Even during a global pandemic, these students have been using their ingenuity, resourcefulness and STEM skills to work toward a better future. I can only hope that their STS experience helps further inspire them to take on and help solve some of the biggest challenges facing mankind, from climate change to disease and future pandemics."

Finalists will participate in a week-long competition from March 9-16, 2022, where they will undergo a rigorous judging process and compete for more than $1.8 million in awards. They will also have an opportunity to interact with leading scientists and share their research during a virtual "Public Day" event on March 13.

The finalists are each awarded at least $25,000, and the top 10 awards range from $40,000 to $250,000. The top 10 Regeneron Science Talent Search 2022 winners will be announced during a live-streamed awards ceremony on March 15. In total, more than $3 million in awards will be distributed throughout the Regeneron Science Talent Search, which includes awards to finalists as well as $2,000 provided to each of the top 300 scholars and their schools. Award winners use the prize money to advance their education and scientific research – a critical investment toward their future in STEM, and our country's future as a hub of innovation and progress.

The Science Talent Search, a program of Society for Science since 1942, is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. Each year, around 2,000 student entrants submit original research in critically important scientific fields of study and are judged by leading experts in their fields. Unique among high school competitions in the U.S. and around the world, the Regeneron Science Talent Search focuses on identifying, inspiring and engaging the nation's most promising young scientists who are creating the ideas that could solve society's most urgent challenges.

Program alumni include recipients of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes, 13 National Medals of Science, six Breakthrough Prizes, 21 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and two Fields Medals.

Regeneron, based in Tarrytown, became only the third sponsor of the Science Talent Search in 2017, increasing the overall awards distribution to better reward the best and brightest young minds. Through its 10-year, $100 million commitment, Regeneron nearly doubled the overall award distribution to $3.1 million annually, increasing the top award to $250,000 and doubling the awards for the top 300 scholars and their schools to $2,000 each to inspire more young people to engage in science.