Tag: Ambika Grover

  • Indian-origin teen Neel Moudgal wins $250K US science prize

    Indian-origin teen Neel Moudgal wins $250K US science prize

    NEW YORK (TIP): An Indian-origin teen has won a prestigious high schoolers’ science prize of $250,000 for developing a computer model to predict the structure of RNA molecules that can aid in quickly diagnosing diseases. Neel Moudgal, 17, was announced the winner of the Regeneron Science Talent competition on Tuesday, March 14. Ambika Grover, 17, was ranked sixth for an $80,000 award and Siddhu Pachipala, 18, placed ninth for a $50,000 prize. About 2,000 high school students competed in the Science Talent Search with 40 selected for the final round. According to the Society for Science that ran the competition sponsored by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Moudgal’s computational biology and bioinformatics project “can rapidly and reliably predict the structure of various RNA molecules to facilitate the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutic drugs for diseases such as cancer, autoimmune diseases and viral infections”.

    Grover developed an injectable micro-bubble to break up blood clots and treat stroke victims by restoring the blood flow to the brain.

    Pachipala used machine learning to assess a patient’s suicide risk. By analyzing a patient’s journal entries, the semantics in an individual’s writing could be correlated with their psychological health and risk of suicide.

    Pachipala, who was chosen by the finalists as most exemplifying them, also was given the Seaborg Award.

    The winners of the Science Talent Search program originally sponsored by Westinghouse and now associated with the current sponsor Regeneron have gone on to win 11 Nobel Prizes and two Fields Medals for mathematics.

     

  • Five Indian Americans amongst 40 finalists in Regeneron Science Talent Search

    Five Indian Americans amongst 40 finalists in Regeneron Science Talent Search

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Five Indian American students are among 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, America’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors, vying for over $1.8 million in prizes.

    Finalists were selected by a national jury of professional scientists from a pool of 300 scholars from 34 schools across 14 states, based on their projects’ scientific rigor and their potential to become world-changing scientific leaders, according to a press release from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Society for Science.

    The 2023 finalists’ research projects showcase their breadth of knowledge, their commitment to addressing issues important to modern society, and their passion for STEM, the release said.

    Five Indian American students —Ambika Grover from Connecticut, Neel Moudgal from Michigan, Ishika Nag and Lavanya Natarajan from Florida and Siddhu Pachipala from Texas — will now compete with other finalists for a top prize of $250,000.

    Grover of Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Connecticut, had a project titled: Design of a Novel, Dual-Functioning, Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Factor XI-Inhibiting Anticoagulant Therapeutic for Rapid Ischemic Stroke Treatment.

    Moudgal of Saline High School, Saline, Michigan, had a project titled: Using Unassigned NMR Chemical Shifts to Model RNA Secondary Structure.

    Nag of Oviedo High School, Oviedo, Florida, had a project titled: Development of an Engineered Face Mask with Optimized Nanoparticle Layering for Filtration of Air Pollutants and Viral Pathogens.

    Lavanya Natarajan of Viera High School, Viera, Florida had a project titled: A Prescriptive IoT Solution to Detect and Mitigate Fugitive Methane Gas in Landfills via a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System.

    Siddhu Pachipala of The Woodlands College Park High School, The Woodlands, Texas had a project titled: SuiSensor: A Novel, Low-Cost Machine Learning System for Real-Time Suicide Risk Identification and Treatment Optimization via Computational Linguistics.

    “We are thrilled to welcome this inspiring and highly talented class of Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO, Society for Science and Executive Publisher, Science News.

    “I am certain these extraordinary students will be following in the footsteps of our many accomplished alumni who are the forefront of breakthrough discoveries. The 2023 finalists will be using their leadership, intellect, creativity and STEM skills to solve our world’s most intractable challenges.”

    Finalists will participate in a week-long competition in March 2023, during which they will undergo a rigorous judging process that goes beyond their own research to encompass other scientific disciplines and compete for more than $1.8 million in awards.

    They will also have an opportunity to interact with leading scientists and share their research during a virtual “Public Day” event on March 12. The top 10 Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023 winners will be announced during an awards ceremony on March 14, streamed live from Washington, DC.

    In total, more than $3 million in awards will be distributed throughout the Regeneron Science Talent Search. The finalists are each awarded at least $25,000, and the top 10 awards range from $40,000 to $250,000.

    Finalists may use their award prize money solely for educational purposes and can choose for those funds to be released directly to their college or university.

    The top 300 scholars, each of whom receive $2,000, may use their awards as they see fit; each of their schools are also awarded $2,000 to support math and science programs, a critical investment toward their future in STEM, and our country’s future as a hub of innovation and progress.

    Multiple students chose to explore research topics on climate change; for instance, one studied the environmental potential of human-made materials such as cement to help reduce emissions, and another evaluated the correlation between air pollution and Covid-19 cases, according to the release.

    Some students invented health monitoring devices, like a color-changing sensor to help detect the presence of illicit drugs in drinks; others explored topics related to space, including a new method to test for the existence of large populations of black holes.

    Other finalists dove into social and political issues, including an examination of media coverage about violent crimes to understand its impact on societal perceptions, and an evaluation of linguistic features in writing to predict suicide risk.

    “Congratulations to an exceptional group of Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023 finalists,” said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron, and a 1976 Science Talent Search finalist and top winner.

    “Inspiring and equipping the brightest minds to take on the world’s most pressing issues is one of the most important ways we can ensure the scientific advancements necessary to better our society. We know the future is bright for these young scientists and are excited to see the positive impact they will make.”

     

  • 50 Indian American students  among America’s  top 300 for the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023

    50 Indian American students among America’s top 300 for the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): About 50 Indian American students are among 300 semifinalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023, said to be the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

    The 300 scholars selected from 1,949 applications from 627 high schools across America and four other countries, will be awarded $2,000 each and their schools will be awarded $2,000 for each enrolled scholar, Society for Science announced Jan 10. 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, according to a society press release.

    The 300 scholars hail from 194 American and international high schools in 35 states and China.

    On Jan 24, 40 of the 300 scholars will be named Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists. The finalists will then compete for more than $1.8 million in awards during a week-long competition in Washington, DC, taking place March 9-15.

    “Congratulations to the top 300 scholars in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO, Society for Science and Publisher, Science News.

    “The enthusiasm and quality of projects from this year’s participants were just outstanding. 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.”

    Collectively, STS alumni over eight decades have received millions of dollars in scholarships and gone on to be awarded Nobel Prizes, Fields Medals, MacArthur Fellowships and numerous other accolades, the release said.

    Indian American semifinalists include:

    Ashwika Agrawal, 17 Cupertino High School, California.

    Project Title: Hanu: A Low-Cost Computer-Aided Lung Auscultation Apparatus with Automated Diagnosis of Respiratory Illnesses.

    Bhargav Raviseshachandra Annem, 17, Liberal Arts & Science Academy, Texas.

    Project Title: Impact of Orbiting Satellites on Star Formation Rate Evolution and Metallicity Variations in Milky Way-Like Discs

    Stavya Arora, 17, Maple Grove Senior High School, Minnesota.

    Project Title: Overcoming Opioids: Analyzing, Characterizing and Quantifying the Sentiment of Reddit Posts’ Tone and Language Prior to a Relapse To Allow for Early Intervention.

    Aaditya Krishna Arun, 18, Harmony School of Innovation, Sugar Land, Texas.

    Project Title: Determine the Deleterious Effect of Excess Fluoride on Reproductive Outcome and Development of Dip Bag-Based De-Fluoridation Solution.

    Shivani Babu, 17, Auburn High School, Alabama.

    Project Title: Attenuation of Adipocyte Hypertrophy in a Palmitic Acid-Induced 3T3 Cell Model Through Lupeol Treatment.

    Sruthi Balasubramanian, 17, American Heritage School Boca-Delray, Florida.

    Project Title: The Effect of Nicotinamide on the Il-6 Expression and Cell Count of Barrett’s Esophagus-Expressing Cells.

    Samir Batheja, 17, Half Hollow Hills High School, New York.

    Project Title: Association Between Sleep and Fatigue in Depression: Role of GABA and Glutamate.

    Shriya P Bhat, 17, Plano East Senior High School, Texas.

    Project Title: Cloning and Mutagenesis of the ampC Gene Encoding for β–lactamase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa To Identify Potential Allosteric Binding Sites.

    Rohan Tan Bhowmik, 17, The Harker School, California.

    Project Title: A Multi-Modal Wildfire Prediction and Early-Warning System Based on a Novel Machine Learning Framework.

    Kristi Biswas, 17, Paxon Senior High School, Florida.

    Project Title: Associations of Genetic SNPs with AD, Neuropathology and Gene Expression Offers Novel Insight Into AD

    Raka Bose, 17, Yorktown High School, New York.

    Project Title: Using Artificial Intelligence for ICU Patient Triage.

    Hiral Milind Chavre, 17, George W. Hewlett High School, New York.

    Project Title: NMDA Receptor Mutation and KCC2 Inhibition Induce Changes in Brain Development Associated with Neurodevelopmental Diseases.

    Rohini Elora Das, 17, Byram Hills High School, New York.

    Project Title: “Let’s Sleep on It”: Employing the Brain App to Measure the Impact of Sleep in Consolidating Prior Learning.

    Samara Davis, 17, Ossining High School, New York.

    Project Title: Developing Environmental DNA Metabarcoding for the Detection of Elusive Vernal Pool-Breeding Amphibians.

    Vihaan Dheer, 18, Hackley School, New York.

    Project Title: The Optimization of Flux Trajectories for the Adiabatic Controlled-Z Gate on Split-Tunable Transmons.

    Nadya Jasmine Dhillon, 17, Oak Park and River Forest High School, Illinois.

    Project Title: The Effect of a Novel Biomedical Technique on Reprocessing of Duodenoscopes Using Silver Nitrate and Methylene Blue Irradiated with Red Light.

    Advay Goel, 17, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Massachusetts.

    Project Title: The Geometry and Limits of Young Partition Flow Polytopes.

    Ambika Grover, 17, Greenwich High School, Connecticut.

    Project Title: Design of a Novel, Dual-Functioning, Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Factor XI-Inhibiting Anticoagulant Therapeutic for Rapid Ischemic Stroke Treatment.

    Arya Gupta, 17, Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina.

    Project Title: Exploring the Relationship Between PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome and Its Five Related Conditions: Insulin Resistance, Menstrual Malfunction, Hyperandrogenemia, Obesity and Infertility.

    Ronit Gupta, 17, Greenwich High School, Connecticut.

    Project Title: Design of a Rapid, Lateral Flow COPD Diagnostic via Detection of Cyto-Keratin 19 Biomarkers.

    Varun Hariprasad, 17, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Kentucky,

    Project Title: Developing a Novel Autonomous Swarm-Based Beach Cleaning Robot.

    Anu Iyer, 17, Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas.

    Project Title: Systematic Parkinson Audio Recognition Construct SPARC: A Novel Machine Learning Method to Detect Parkinson’s Disease Using Voice in Three Seconds.

    Aashika Jagadeesh, 17, Fair Lawn High School, New Jersey.

    Project Title: FreeFeed: A Novel Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Achieving Multi-Sided Fairness in Recommendation Systems.

    Rishab Kumar Jain, 18, Westview High School, Oregon.

    Project Title: GlioMod: Spatiotemporal-Aware Glioblastoma Multiforme Tumor Growth Modeling with Deep Encoder-Decoder Networks.

    Tanish Jain, 17, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia.

    Project Title: In silico Prediction of Drug Permeability Through an Inflamed Blood-Brain Barrier Using Molecular Feature Modeling.

    Aryan Thomas Kalluvila, 17, Hartford Union High School, Wisconsin.

    Project Title: An Accurate Super-Resolution Approach to 64 mT Low-Field MRI via Domain Adaptation and Nested U-Net Architecture.

    Archita Khaire, 17, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, North Carolina.

    Project Title: A Semi-Supervised Approach to Rank Potential Causal Variants and Their Target Genes in Microglia for Alzheimer’s Disease.

    Amav Khambete, 17, Coppell High School, Texas.

    Project Title: The Effects on Novel Drugs on EPH-EPHRIN Protein Interactions for the Inhibition of Chronic Pain.

    Sameer Ullal Kini, 17, Scarsdale High School, New York.

    Project Title: Associations Between Pathophysiological Traits and Symptom Development in V30M and V122I Transthyretin Amyloidosis.

    Sravan Kodali, 17, Christian Brothers Academy, New York.

    Project Title: Probing the Etiological Basis of Cancer and Neurological Disease: Epigenomic Signatures Associated with Spontaneous and Replication Stress-Induced Double Strand Breaks.

    Harish Krishnakumar, 17, Tesla STEM High School, Washington.

    Project Title: Analysis of Ring Galaxies Detected Using Deep Learning with Real and Simulated Data.

    Hari Hemanth Krishnamurthy, 17, Canyon Crest Academy, California.

    Project Title: Asylum Indicator: Predictive Modeling of Asylum Adjudications in the USA and in the EU To Help Refugees.

    Gouri Krishnan, 18, King School, Connecticut.

    Project Title: Energy Loss from Wasted Plastic and Lighting Inefficiency Can Be Reduced Through a Combination of Environmentally Friendly Polymers Created From Biomass and Energy-Saving Electrochromic Windows.

    Veda Kutagula, 17, Allen High School, Texas.

    Project Title: Predicting Binge Drinking Risk Among Teenagers as Part of an Overall Mental Health Predictive Model Using Machine Learning Techniques.

    Nishant Lahiri, 17, Corning-Painted Post High School, New York.

    Project Title: Polyethyleneimine-Impregnated Adsorbents for a Novel Community-Based Carbon Capture and Sequestration System.

    Darsh Sandip Mandera, 18, Jesuit High School, Oregon.

    Project Title: OncoPharML: A Machine-Learning Approach for Cancer Biomarkers Identification and Multi-Omics-Based Targeted Cancer-Drug Prediction.

    Krish Maniar, 17, The Harker School, California.

    Project Title: DANO Digital Phenotypic Assessment in Neuro-Oncology: Guiding Treatment Interventions and Forecasting Recurrence for Glioblastoma Patients Using Smartphone-Extracted Mobility Metrics.

    Arul Rhik Mazumder, 17, Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science, Massachusetts.

    Project Title: An Adaptive Hybrid Quantum Algorithm for the Metric Traveling Salesman Problem.

    Amishi Mittal, 17, Bergen County Academies, New Jersey.

    Project Title: Correlations Between Type 2 Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease and Increasing Aβ Degradation by Insulin-Degrading Enzyme via Zinc Chelation.

    Neel Moudgal, 16, Saline Area High School, Michigan.

    Project Title: Using Unassigned NMR Chemical Shifts to Model RNA Secondary Structure.

    Ishika Nag, 17, Oviedo High School, Florida.

    Project Title: Development of an Engineered Face Mask with Optimized Nanoparticle Layering for Filtration of Air Pollutants and Viral Pathogens.

    Lavanya Natarajan, 17, Viera High School, Florida.

    Project Title: A Prescriptive IoT Solution to Detect and Mitigate Fugitive Methane Gas in Landfills via a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System.

    Ayush Nayak, 18, Westview School, California.

    Project Title: Development of InSb/Si Quantum Dots for Next-Generation Multivalued High-Transport Transistor Technology.

    Siddhu Pachipala, 18, The Woodlands College Park High School, Texas.

    Project Title: SuiSensor: A Novel, Low-Cost Machine Learning System for Real-Time Suicide Risk Identification and Treatment Optimization via Computational Linguistics.

    Apoorva Panidapu, 17, Nautilus Academy Homeschool, California.

    Project Title: Short-Interval Sector Problems for CM Elliptic Curves.

    Jeeya Yogesh Patel, 17, George Washington High School, West Virginia.

    Project Title: Consequences of a Dot-1.1 Deletion on Germ Cell Components in Caenorhabditis elegans.

    Shloke Patel, 17, Hillsborough High School, Florida.

    Project Title: Developing Novel Biologicals with Multiple Modes of Action BM to Combat the Early Blight Disease in Tomato, Potato and Bell Pepper.

    Sohi Patel, 17, The Woodlands College Park High School, Texas.

    Project Title: Programmable Matter: A Microscale, Self-Reconfigurable, Swarm Robotic System.

    Ashwin Prabhakar, 17, Bob Jones High School, Alabama.

    Project Title: A Low-Cost Portable and Modular Single-Shot Hyperspectral Imaging System for Characterization of Materials.

    Ibrahim Qadri, 17, Valley Stream South High School, New York.

    Project Title: The Ability of Vitamin E To Improve the Reproduction and Metabolic Respiration of Nicotine-Induced D. Melanogaster.

    Akhila Ram, 18, Lexington High School, Massachusetts.

    Project Title: Unsupervised Representation Learning of GRACE Improves Groundwater Predictions.

    Tags: Indian Americans, Indians abroad, Indian-origin, USA, Science & Technology, Teens, Teenagers, Students, education, Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023