6 students at Syosset High School top list of 38 Long Island seniors named Regeneron scholars
Nearly 40 Long Island high school seniors from private and public schools were honored Tuesday as Regeneron Science Talent Search semifinalists in the nation’s most prestigious competition for students.
The local seniors are among 300 named nationally and internationally, according to Washington, D.C.-based Society for Science, which runs the country's oldest and most well-known science contest.
Syosset High School led Long Island's list with six students named as scholars on Tuesday. Senior Sabrina Guo, 17, called her parents and then rushed to join her peers after she learned that she and five others had been honored.
"It was such a memorable moment when I saw the faces of my fellow classmates who also received it — I was so happy for all of us," said Guo, whose research focused on emergency contraceptive use by young women in the United States from 2006 to 2019. She hopes her work leads to more equitable access to health care.
Her teacher Veronica Ade, the high school's science research facilitator, was overwhelmed by the achievement of the six Syosset students.
"These students have been working tirelessly since they were freshmen to accomplish this feat," she said of their projects.
Senior Vivek Turakhia, 17, chose to research a specific chemical that has the potential to induce Parkinson's disease in a living organism. He learned he was named a scholar while he was giving a presentation to another class Tuesday.
"This really means a lot because I worked so hard on this project for the last two years- day in and day out in the research lab," he said. "I am just really happy."
Other Island schools with multiple scholars are Jericho High School with five students and Great Neck South, Herricks High School and Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington with three each.
Each scholar and their schools will be awarded $2,000 apiece. On Jan. 24, 40 of the 300 will be selected as finalists and granted a trip to Washington, D.C., where they will compete in March for a piece of $1.8 million in prize money. The announcement was released shortly after noon Tuesday.
Nassau County had 31 scholars and Suffolk County had seven.
The Long Island students researched a variety of topics from how to ward off invasive species on the salt marsh to how to foster greater accuracy in echocardiograms to how to find a treatment for dye pollution.
Jericho High School senior Emily Kim, 17, noticed the presence of fast fashion on social media and began her research on the impacts the fast fashion and textile industries had globally both from an environmental and humanitarian perspective. She specifically looked into the mass production and release of toxic dyes in underdeveloped countries that led to dye pollution. Fast fashion are clothes created and sold for very low prices, she said.
At Stony Brook University, she researched activated carbon’s potential as an adsorbent and photocatalyst for dye remediation.
“For me as a teenager who is living the United States, I saw how prevalent fast fashion was among my generation … and I was compelled to do something,” she said.
Her classmate, senior Natalia Pahlavan, 17, joined the district’s research program in ninth grade and has worked on her biomedical engineering project for two years with the assistance from Stony Brook University and her science research teacher.
Using a generative adversarial network (GAN), she synthesized electrocardiogram signals to increase cardiovascular information without the need for additional equipment.
“I hope that my project can facilitate wireless and continuous monitoring of cardiovascular diseases,” she said. “That would enhance the accuracy of early detection and efficacy of immediate intervention of cardiac arrhythmias.”
At Brentwood High School’s Sonderling Center, senior Minnahil Tariq, 17, watched the results of the science competition Tuesday on the big screen in the school’s lab along with her teacher and mentor, Rebecca Grella, research scientist and facilitator at the high school. Tariq recalled later going on a field trip as a sophomore with Grella and other students to the local salt marsh and seeing the algae blooms.
“She brought out this big orange bucket full of [invasive algae] Dasy and as I studied the invader, I became hooked,” Tariq said. Her research looked into whether Dasysiphonia japonica could be used for the production of biofuels and other commercially and scientifically important products like industrial biofilters, food products and water quality testing.
“Her determination and her focus is really what allowed her to achieve this success,” Grella said Tuesday.
Two students from private schools, Miah Margiano of Saint Anthony’s High School and Marc Nichitiu of The Stony Brook School, are on the scholars list.
Long Island had 49 scholars named in 2022, including Amber Luo, a senior at Ward Melville High School last year who finished third and claimed a $150,000 prize.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars were selected from 1,949 applications from 627 high schools across 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and four other countries.
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.
The 300 scholars hail from 194 schools nationwide, including one international school in China. In New York state, 85 scholars were named.
With Michael Ebert
Nearly 40 Long Island high school seniors from private and public schools were honored Tuesday as Regeneron Science Talent Search semifinalists in the nation’s most prestigious competition for students.
The local seniors are among 300 named nationally and internationally, according to Washington, D.C.-based Society for Science, which runs the country's oldest and most well-known science contest.
Syosset High School led Long Island's list with six students named as scholars on Tuesday. Senior Sabrina Guo, 17, called her parents and then rushed to join her peers after she learned that she and five others had been honored.
"It was such a memorable moment when I saw the faces of my fellow classmates who also received it — I was so happy for all of us," said Guo, whose research focused on emergency contraceptive use by young women in the United States from 2006 to 2019. She hopes her work leads to more equitable access to health care.
Her teacher Veronica Ade, the high school's science research facilitator, was overwhelmed by the achievement of the six Syosset students.
"These students have been working tirelessly since they were freshmen to accomplish this feat," she said of their projects.
Senior Vivek Turakhia, 17, chose to research a specific chemical that has the potential to induce Parkinson's disease in a living organism. He learned he was named a scholar while he was giving a presentation to another class Tuesday.
"This really means a lot because I worked so hard on this project for the last two years- day in and day out in the research lab," he said. "I am just really happy."
Jericho High School students named semifinalists in the Regeneron Science Competition and their adviser on Tuesday. From left: Rhea Sakaria, 17; Kevin Zhu, 17; science research coordinator Serena McCalla; Natalia Pahlavan, 17; and Emily Kim, 17. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
Other Island schools with multiple scholars are Jericho High School with five students and Great Neck South, Herricks High School and Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington with three each.
Each scholar and their schools will be awarded $2,000 apiece. On Jan. 24, 40 of the 300 will be selected as finalists and granted a trip to Washington, D.C., where they will compete in March for a piece of $1.8 million in prize money. The announcement was released shortly after noon Tuesday.
Nassau County had 31 scholars and Suffolk County had seven.
The Long Island students researched a variety of topics from how to ward off invasive species on the salt marsh to how to foster greater accuracy in echocardiograms to how to find a treatment for dye pollution.
Jericho High School senior Emily Kim, 17, noticed the presence of fast fashion on social media and began her research on the impacts the fast fashion and textile industries had globally both from an environmental and humanitarian perspective. She specifically looked into the mass production and release of toxic dyes in underdeveloped countries that led to dye pollution. Fast fashion are clothes created and sold for very low prices, she said.
At Stony Brook University, she researched activated carbon’s potential as an adsorbent and photocatalyst for dye remediation.
“For me as a teenager who is living the United States, I saw how prevalent fast fashion was among my generation … and I was compelled to do something,” she said.
Her classmate, senior Natalia Pahlavan, 17, joined the district’s research program in ninth grade and has worked on her biomedical engineering project for two years with the assistance from Stony Brook University and her science research teacher.
Using a generative adversarial network (GAN), she synthesized electrocardiogram signals to increase cardiovascular information without the need for additional equipment.
“I hope that my project can facilitate wireless and continuous monitoring of cardiovascular diseases,” she said. “That would enhance the accuracy of early detection and efficacy of immediate intervention of cardiac arrhythmias.”
At Brentwood High School’s Sonderling Center, senior Minnahil Tariq, 17, watched the results of the science competition Tuesday on the big screen in the school’s lab along with her teacher and mentor, Rebecca Grella, research scientist and facilitator at the high school. Tariq recalled later going on a field trip as a sophomore with Grella and other students to the local salt marsh and seeing the algae blooms.
“She brought out this big orange bucket full of [invasive algae] Dasy and as I studied the invader, I became hooked,” Tariq said. Her research looked into whether Dasysiphonia japonica could be used for the production of biofuels and other commercially and scientifically important products like industrial biofilters, food products and water quality testing.
“Her determination and her focus is really what allowed her to achieve this success,” Grella said Tuesday.
Two students from private schools, Miah Margiano of Saint Anthony’s High School and Marc Nichitiu of The Stony Brook School, are on the scholars list.
Long Island had 49 scholars named in 2022, including Amber Luo, a senior at Ward Melville High School last year who finished third and claimed a $150,000 prize.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars were selected from 1,949 applications from 627 high schools across 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and four other countries.
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.
The 300 scholars hail from 194 schools nationwide, including one international school in China. In New York state, 85 scholars were named.
With Michael Ebert
Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.
