Oregon Teen Rishab Jain Wins Regeneron Young Scientist Award for His AI Model That Produces Cost-effective Drugs
- Three other Indian American students win top honors for their projects showing creativity, innovation and level of scientific inquiry.
Portland, Oregon teen Rishab Jain has won the Regeneron Young Scientist Award of $50,000 for developing an AI-based model to enable rapid and cost-effective production of drugs, such as recombinant COVID-19 vaccines, using synthetic DNA engineering, according to a Society for Science press release.
Jain also won first place in the biomedical engineering research category. He told The Oregonian that he “has been doing research in biomedical technology and biomedicine in general for the last four or five years now.”
A junior at Westview High School in Beaverton, Jain is a biomedical researcher whose artificial intelligence technology, ICOR, is already being licensed by a biotech company, as reported by The Oregonian. He runs the 800 meters for the varsity track team, participates in speech and debate, and became an Eagle Scout last year.
Jain was one of the top winners of the 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, billed as the largest of its kind science fairs in the world.. Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, 17, of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, received the other young scientist award for modifying a metal-organic material so it could be used to both extract hydrogen from water and safely store it for clean energy production.
Robert Sansone, 17, of Fort Pierce, Florida, received the $75,000 George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award, for research that improved the torque (force) and efficiency of synchronous reluctance motors, which are rugged, efficient, magnet-free alternatives to traditional induction motors.
In total, awards valued at nearly U.S. $8 million were awarded to the finalists, “who were evaluated based on their projects’ creativity, innovation and level of scientific inquiry,” the press release said. The competition featured 1,750 young scientists representing 49 states and 63 countries, regions and territories across the world.
“Congratulations to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2022 winners,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science and Publisher of Science News. “Every single Regeneron ISEF finalist has shown true dedication, passion, and grit. Their commitment to their research and perseverance throughout the continued challenges of COVID-19 are an inspiration to us all. We are eager to watch the impact they are sure to make in their communities and chosen fields.”
Other Indian American top honors from the competition include:
Anika Puri, 17, of Chappaqua, New York, won the $10,000 Peggy Scripps Award for Science Communication for her low-cost machine learning software that can analyze night-time infrared videos taken by a drone flown over the African wilderness to spot elephant poachers in real-time.
Asmi Kumar, 18, of Milton, Georgia, recipient of the Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award, which provides the finalists with an all-expense-paid trip to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar, including attendance at the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden. This fall,
Kumar will study Computer Science & Engineering and Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She told Georgia Public Broadcasting that she hopes to focus on AI/ML in her career, “specifically on technologies with direct human impact. I’m especially interested in learning theory in the context of personalization.”
Varun Madan, 17, of Orlando, Florida received the EU Contest for Young Scientists Award, which is presented to two projects that will represent Regeneron ISEF at the EU Contest for Young Scientists to be held in Leiden, Netherlands, Sept. 12-18.