Three Ossining Science Students are Semifinalists in National Competition

Three Ossining High School students have been selected as semifinalists for the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search.

Fundamentals of Science Research Program students Celine Khoo, Reid Komosa and Adriana Scanteianu are among 300 seniors nationwide who were chosen to advance to the next phase of the competition, which is produced by the Society for Science & the Public and sponsored by Regeneron. The previous sponsors were Intel and Westinghouse.

“We are very excited about these three students for their excellence, which represents the work and effort of all our students,” said Angelo Piccirillo, who co-teaches the Science Research Program with Valerie Holmes. “It is truly amazing that year after year our students earn this national recognition. It is also important to give credit our research mentors throughout the various research institutions who support our students.”

The semifinalists– called scholars – were selected from 1,749 applicants in 46 states and seven American and international schools overseas. They were chosen based on their exceptional promise as scientists, academic achievement and recommendations from teachers and other scientists. The 300 scholars will receive $2,000 each, with an additional $2,000 granted to their school.

“I commend our Ossining scientists and expect they will have many future successes in their chosen fields,” Superintendent Raymond Sanchez said. “The accomplishments of our students in the Science Research Program and the sophistication of their research are remarkable. Their achievements are a credit to the strength of our STEM programs and teaching staff.”

Ms. Scanteianu, who conducted proteomics research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, says, “The Ossining Science Research Program is made up of kids who all work so hard, the entire senior class was equally deserving of the recognition. Our successes all come from so much collaboration, between students, teachers, and the entire Ossining community, that each win is really a win for the family.”

The Society for Science & the Public, which created the competition in 1942, will announce 40 finalists on Jan. 24. Those students will spend a week in Washington in March and compete for $1.8 million in awards from Regeneron, including a top award of $250,000. The winners will be announced March 14.

“We are thrilled to recognize such a variety of scientific achievements and join Regeneron in welcoming these young innovators to the Science Talent Search family,” Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public, said in a statement. “We cannot wait to see where their curiosity and passion take them.”

These are the titles of the OHS semifinalists’ projects:

• Celine Khoo: Training Nonnative Speech Contrasts: An Examination of English Vowel Contrast Discrimination for Adolescent Native Spanish Speakers.
• Reid Komosa: Tributary Detection as the Basis for Intra-estuarial Juvenile American Eel Recruitment Disparities in the Hudson River.
• Adriana Scanteianu: Predicting Protein Turnover Using Genome-Scale Protein-to-mRNAConcentration Ratios.

(Photo, from left to right: Celine Khoo, Reid Komosa, Adriana Scanteianu.)