5 JHS students named Regeneron Scholars


four high school students

Pictured (left to right) are Rhea Sakaria, Kevin Zhu, Natalia Pahlavan, and Emily Kim. (Not pictured – Nikhil Trepeta.)
Photo by Denise Nash

Five Jericho seniors were named Regeneron Scholars – a total of 300 students nationally were named Scholars. The students are Emily Kim, Natalia Pahlavan, Rhea Sakaria, Nikhil Trepeta, and Kevin Zhu.

The 300 scholars and their schools will be awarded $2,000 each.

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 demonstrated through the submission of their original, independent research projects, essays and recommendations.

The students submitted the following projects:

Emily Kim – The Dual Roles of Activated Carbon as an Adsorbent and Photocatalyst for Azo Dye Removal

Natalia Pahlavan – Bidirectional 12-Lead Electrocardiogram and Electrogram Reconstruction Using a Cycle Generative Adversarial Network

Rhea Sakaria – Identifying a Potent Wnt Compound To Enhance Stemness Post-Radiation Through Activating the Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway

Nikhil Trepeta – Decreased Levels of TSP-2 Results in Under-Activation of the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway and Alters Gene Expression in NIH-3T3 Cell Lines

Kevin Zhu – Recurrent Repeat Contractions and Micro-Changing Short Tandem Repeats: Investigating Underrepresented Factors of Polymorphism in Human Cancers

“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.” 

On January 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, D.C., taking place March 9-15. 

For over eight decades the Science Talent Search has rewarded talented high school seniors who dedicate countless hours to original research projects and present their results in rigorous reports that resemble graduate school theses. Collectively, STS alumni have received millions of dollars in scholarships and gone on to be awarded Nobel Prizes, Fields Medals, MacArthur Fellowships and numerous other accolades. 

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