Harriton Student Wins $175K In National Science Competition

BRYN MAWR, PA — A Harriton High School student recently finished second place in a national science competition, earning himself $175,000.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Society for Science & the Public announced that Harriton student Samuel Weissman, 17, of Rosemont, took second in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, which is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

Weissman was chosen as runner-up among 40 finalists in the competition.

His project analyzing the genetic makeup of HIV in two patients on long-term anti-retroviral therapy to understand why they continued to have “reservoirs” of treatment-resistant HIV-infected cells earned him the honor.

Weissman's research suggests that HIV-infected cells both clonally expand and are killed, therefore forming a reservoir of infected cells, which expands our understanding of HIV and may impact future treatment approaches.

For his work, Weissman earned a $175,000 prize.

"Congratulations to Samuel on winning second place in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019," said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News. "His love for biomedical research and dedication to improving HIV treatment is inspiring, and we are excited to see what the future has in store for him."

Weissman is also a saxophone player in the Harriton jazz band. His love of jazz came from his grandfather, who learned to play sax at the age of 65.

Ana Humphrey, 18, of Alexandria, Virginia took the top prize of $250,000 for her mathematical model to determine the possible locations of exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — that may have been missed by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope

Forty finalists were honored tonight at the annual Regeneron Science Talent Search awards gala.

Regeneron provided awards totaling more than $1.8 million for the finalists, who were evaluated for their research projects, as well as their exceptional scientific and mathematical knowledge, problem-solving abilities and potential as future scientific leaders.