Top 300 Regeneron Scholars Include 5 Fairfax County Students

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Five students from Fairfax County Public Schools were chosen as top 300 Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation's most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors, named four Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology students and one McLean High School student as scholars.

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

The Fairfax County Regeneron scholars and their projects are:

• Alvan Caleb Arulandu, 16, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology,
  • Project: Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Informed Infectious Disease Policy
• Tanish Jain, 17, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology,
  • Project Title: In silico Prediction of Drug Permeability Through an Inflamed Blood-Brain Barrier Using Molecular Feature Modelin
• Lynn R. Tao, 18, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
  • Project Title: D-SCRIPT+C: Incorporating Protein Contact Maps in a Multiphase Deep Learning Model for Structurally Accurate Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) Prediction
• Suraj Vaddi, 18, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
  • Project Title: Tar Print: Convolutional Remote Sensing Techniques To Quantify Urbanization and Study Water Quality Through Macroinvertebrate Assemblages
• Ethan Zhou, 17, McLean High School
  • Project Title: Online Learning of Smooth Functions

The 300 Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars were selected from 1,949 applications from 627 high schools across 48 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and four other countries. Scholars receive $2,000 each from Regeneron, and their schools receive $2,000 for each scholar.

Additional awards are possible if scholars are named finalist. From the 300 scholars, 40 finalists will be named and will compete for over $1.8 million in awards during a competition in DC from March 9 to 15.

"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."

The Regeneron Science Talent Searchstarted in 1942 as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. Today, the competition spotlights promising young scientists who are developing ideas to solve society's top challenges. Science Talent Search alumni have gone on to receive other honors, including Nobel Prizes, Fields Medals, MacArthur Fellowships and more.