Briarcliff High School Senior Named Regeneron Scholar

BRIARCLIFF MANOR, NY — Jason Starr, a senior at Briarcliff High School, is one of 300 students across the United States named a scholar in this year's Regeneron Science Talent Search.

His research project title was: An Agent-Based Model of COVID-19 Social Determinants of Health for Equitable Intervention Implementation

It's not his first award. Starr, 17, was one of only nine students to earn the 2022 Milton Fisher Award for Innovation and Creativity.

Briarcliff school officials said in an article on the district website that his idea for his science research project began during the pandemic, when he watched the governor's briefings.

“I saw that the interventions for COVID-19, such as mask mandates and school closures, were usually one-size-fits-all for the entire state,” Starr said in the interview. "I decided that a great way to try to help solve this problem is to make a localized model that can simulate COVID-19 on a local basis and help decision-makers select the best interventions for their own community."

“With Jason’s model, you can pinpoint an area and it will give you an idea of how effective certain interventions would be,” said Briarcliff Science Research teacher Gilana Reiss in the interview.

He is among 32 students from across the Hudson Valley who were named semifinalists, or Scholars, in the prestigious 2023 Regeneron Science Talent Search. The Society for Science announced the 300 Scholars on Tuesday.

They were chosen from an applicant pool of 1,949 students from 627 high schools across 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and four other countries.

They were chosen based on their research, leadership skills, community involvement, commitment to academics, creativity in asking scientific questions and promise as STEM leaders demonstrated through the submission of their original, independent research projects, essays and recommendations.

"The enthusiasm and quality of projects from this year’s participants were just outstanding," said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science and publisher of Science News.

"Each year, I am tremendously impressed by the ingenuity that the students bring to the competition. Their hard work, creativity and perseverance should be applauded."

For being named Scholars, each student will receive $2,000, and their schools will receive $2,000.

The Science Talent Search will name 40 finalists, chosen from among the 300 Scholars, on Jan. 24. Those finalists will then go on to compete for more than $1.8 million in awards during a week-long competition in Washington, D.C. March 9-15.