Regeneron’s Gallery: Over 75 South Asian Americans Among Top 300 Scholars in Science Talent Search

Over 75 South Asian Americans are among the top 300 scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2022, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. They were selected from 1,804 applications received from 603 high schools across 46 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and eight other countries. These scholars and their schools will be awarded $2,000 each, according to a Society for Science press release.

2022 Regeneron STS Scholars

“Amid an unprecedented and ongoing global health crisis, we are incredibly inspired to see such an extraordinary group of young leaders who are using the power of STEM to solve the world’s most intractable challenges,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for Science. “The ingenuity and creativity that each one of these scholars possesses has shown just how much intellectual curiosity and passion can thrive, even in difficult times.”

Forty of the 300 scholars will be named finalists on Jan. 20. They will then compete for more than $1.8 million in awards during a week-long competition from March 10-16.

South Asian American semifinalists include: 

Ayush Agrawal, 17, Canyon Crest Academy, California. (Project Title: Detection of Arsenic Contamination Using Satellite Imagery and Machine Learning).

Naisha Agarwal, 17, Saratoga High School, California. (Project Title: Recommendation Algorithms that Increase Equitable Access to Influencers (Fairness) in a Network).

Armaan Ahmed, 17, Scarsdale High School, New York. (Project Title: Design of a SHERLOCK-Based Low Resource Screening Assay for HIV-1 Drug Resistance).

Neha Ayyalapu, 18, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, New Jersey. (Project Title: A Machine Learns to Predict the Stability of Highly Diverse Multi-Planetary Systems). 

Anjana Balachandar, 17, Buchholz High School, Florida. (Project Title: Extending the Boundaries of 3D Printing of Soft Matter).

Sohini Banerjee, 18, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia. (Project Title: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Biomarker Identification Using Integrative Network Fusion and Deep Learning With Bayesian Hyperparameter Optimization).

Ayaan Bargeer, 17, Shaker High School, New York. (Project Title: A New Device for Agricultural Assistance: Crop Prediction Yield Using Satellite Imagery and Soil Data).

Harshal Bharatia, 17, Plano Senior High School, Texas. (Project Title: Autonomous Learning With Automatically Created Models and a Novel Model Selection).

Aurrel Bhatia, 18, Bethpage High School, New York. (Project Title: Utilizing a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Machine Learning Algorithm to Create Soil Moisture Prediction Models and Improve Water Productivity in Southern California).

Disha Bhattacharya, 17, Carnegie Vanguard High School, Texas. (Project Title: Investigating Short-Term Effects of Critically High Environmental Metal Concentrations on Usnic Acid Production in Cladonia rangiferina Lichens).

Pratiksha Bhattacharyya, 18, Maine West High School, Illinois. (Project Title: Molecular Mechanisms of Momordin in the Regulation of Glucose Homeostasis). 

Atreyus Bhavsar, 18, Blake School Northrop Campus, Minnesota. (Project Title: The Spread of Macroscopic Droplets from a Simulated Cough With and Without the Use of Masks or Barriers).

Neil Chowdhury, 18, Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire. (Project Title: Modeling the Effect of Histone Methylation on Chromosomal Organization in Colon Cancer Cells).

Srihitha Dasari, 17, Denmark High School, Georgia. (Project Title: Improving Multiclass Classification of Alzheimer’s Disease Using Cortical Volumetry and Inter-Cortical Ratios as Combined Markers).

Riju Dey, 17, Shorewood High School, Wisconsin. (Project Title: Discovery of Novel Eukaryotic-Like Dual Phosphatase Kinase Regulating Secretion of the Toxin Pyocyanin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa).

Harrish Ganesh, 17, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia. 

(Project Title: The Analysis of the Viral Transmission and Structural Interactions Between the HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein and the Lymphocyte Receptor Integrin α4β7).

Rithvik Ganesh, 18, Plano West Senior High School, Texas. (Project Title: Tackling Tau: Identification of a Novel Inhibitor for the MSUT-2 Protein Using Quantum Machine Learning for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases).

Shyam Ganesh Babu, 18, Spring Valley High School, South Carolina. (Project Title: Exploring How to Merge an Aspiration Thrombectomy Device and a Rotational Atherectomy Device for Efficacious Individual or Joint Removal of Thrombi and Plaque through In-Vitro Testing).

Dimple Amitha Garuadapuri, 18, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, California. (Project Title: Developing a Pre-Risk Assessment Incorporating Machine-Learning and Biomarkers to Diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease).

Shaurnav Ghosh, 18, Pine Crest School, Florida. (Project Title: Using Convolutional Encoder Networks to Determine the Optimal Magnetic Resonance Image for the Automatic Segmentation of Multiple Sclerosis).

Arko Ghosh, 17, C. Leon King High School, Florida. (Project Title: A Novel Approach to Citrus Disease Management: Leveraging Computer Vision, Machine Learning and Convolutional Neural Networks).

Prabuddha Ghosh Dastidar, 18, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, North Carolina. (Project Title: Pre-mRNA Splicing Inhibition as a Potential Pancreatic Cancer Treatment: An Innovative Approach by Identifying Vulnerabilities in Pancreatic Cancer Cells Using Biflavonoid Isoginkgetin and Pladienolide B).

Rohan Ghotra, 17, Syosset High School, New York. (Project Title: Uncovering Motif Interactions from Convolutional Attention Networks for Regulatory Genomics).

Ram Goel, 17, Krishna Homeschool, Oregon. (Project Title: Products of Reflections in Smooth Bruhat Intervals).

Siya Goel, 17, West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School, Indiana. (Project Title: PanCan Diagnosed (A miRNA Approach): Using Feature Selection, Ensemble Algorithms, and Interpretability for the Early Diagnosis and Personalized Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer).

Aanya Goel, 18, Herricks High School, New York. (Project Title: Inflammatory Markers Associated With Early Life Adversity in the Postmortem Human Brain.)

Riya Gupta, 17, Saratoga High School, California. (Project Title: Formulating a Gene Signature for the Diagnosis of Autoimmune and Infectious Diseases.)

Reem Hamdan, 17, Plainedge High School, New York. (Project Title: AI Epidemiology: A Linear Regression Modeling and Structured Machine Learning Protocol for the Analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease Genomic Data.)

Arjan Kahlon, 18, Charter School of Wilmington, Delaware, (Project Title: Remote Gait Analysis as a Proxy for Traditional Gait Laboratories: Utilizing Smartphones as a Wearable Patient-Implemented Solution for Assessment of Gait Across Differing Terrains.)

Shreyas Kar, 17, duPont Manual Magnet High School, Kentucky. (Project Title: Impact of Electronic Health Record Discontinuity in Prediction Modelling Algorithms.)

Mithra Karamchedu, 18, Jesuit High School, Oregon. (Project Title: Cryosphere Melting Risk: Predictive Model of Glacial and Permafrost Melting Using Fractal Analysis of Remote Sensed Images and Correlations to Timeseries Geoglacial and Permafrost Data.)

Jui Khankari, 17, Hinsdale Central High School, Illinois. (Project Title: Automated Detection of Arterial Landmarks and Vascular Occlusions in Acute Stroke Patients on Digital Subtraction Angiography Using Deep Learning.)

Vivek Kogilathota, 17, Rick Reedy High School, Texas. (Project Title: iPonder: A Multimodal Approach to Teen Mental Health Diagnosis and Therapy via Deep Transfer Learning.)

Nikitha Kota, 18, Carnegie Vanguard High School, Texas. (Project Title: Tense of Psychological Distancing Self Talk and Test Performance Among GT High School Students.)

Kaivalya Kulkarni, 17, Okemos High School, Michigan. (Project Title: On the 3-Rank of Class Groups of Quadratic Fields.)

Rishi Kumar, 17, Bergen County Academies, New Jersey. (Project Title: Co-Culturing S. cerevisiae and K. marxianus to Bioremediate Copper from Water.)

Paridhi Latawa, 17, Liberal Arts & Science Academy, Texas. (Project Title: A Novel Computational Modeling Framework to Analyze Synovial Tissue-Based Drug Targets and Diagnostic.)

Varun Madan, 17, Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida. (Project Title: Developing a Novel Multiple Linear Regression Model to Optimize Honey Bee Gut Immunity Using a Lactic Acid Bacteria Probiotic Mixture.)

Atulya Mandyam, 17, Westview School, California. (Project Title: Novel Biomarker for Identification of Bipolar Disorder Treatment Response.)

Rohit Mantena, 18, Bergen County Academies, New Jersey. (Project Title: The Critical Role of Glutamine Transporter ASCT2 on Parkinson’s Disease Progression.)

Vaibhav Mishra, 17, West Laurens High School, Georgia. (Project Title: NeuroXNet: Creating a Novel Deep Learning Architecture that Diagnoses Neurological Disorders, Finds New Blood Biomarkers, and Assesses Surgical, Drugs, and Radiation Treatment Plans Using Medical Imaging and Genomic Data.)

Ashini Modi, 18, Caddo Parish Magnet High School, Louisiana. (Project Title: An Evolutionary Model for Stellar Wind-Induced Atmospheric Escape of Small Exoplanets.)

Dheepthi Mohanraj, 17, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, North Carolina (Project Title: AutoFlow: A Novel Method for Assessing Minimal Residual Disease in Breast Cancer Patients by Identifying Bone Marrow Disseminated Tumor Cells Using Flow Cytometry Data.)

Varsha Naga, 17, Winter Springs High School, Florida. (Project Title: Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections Using Antibacterial Boron Carbonitride Nanoparticle Coating on Medical Devices.)

Yash Narayan, 17, The Nueva School, California. (Project Title: DeepWaste: Applying Deep Learning on a Mobile Device for Accurate, Low Cost, and Ubiquitous Waste Classification.)

Suraj Oruganti, 18, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, New Jersey. (Project Title: Early/Late Chemotherapy: Mathematically Modeling Prostate-Specific Antigen Parameters and Investigating Their Effects on Intermittent Androgen Deprivation.)

Dhruv Pai 18, Montgomery Blair High School, Maryland. (Project Title: Representation and Deep Learning on Brain Surface Data for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.)

Khushi Parikh, 17, Gilbert Community School, Iowa. (Project Title: A Deep Convolutional Neural Network to Detect Antibiotic Resistance Polymorphisms in S. Pneumoniae DNA.)

Rishab Parthasarathy, 16, The Harker School, California. (Project Title: A Novel Combination of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Pathway Analysis for Predicting Oncogenic Mutation Progression and Recommending Targeted Therapies.)

Nithin Parthasarathy, 17, Northwood High School, California. (Project Title: “Minimally Calibrated High Performance Communication Interfaces for the Neurologically Impaired”: New Directions Using Language Models Along With Gaming Extensions to Assist ADHD Subjects.)

Shivani Patel, 18, Manhasset High School, New York. (Project Title: Neuronal Death in Alzheimer’s Disease is Triggered by Extracellular CIRP through Calpain.)

Roshni Patel, 17, Herricks High School, New York. (Project Title: Connectivity Between the Medial Dorsal Nucleus of the Thalamus and the Cingulo-Opercular Network is Related to Psychosis Symptom Severity in a Youth Community Sample.)

Sidhya Peddinti, 17, Plano East Senior High School, Texas. (Project Title: Parkinsensor: Computer Vision and Ensemble Machine Learning-Based Incipient Diagnosis for Parkinson’s Disease Using Neuromuscular Biomarkers.)

Anika Puri, 17, Horace Greeley High School, New York. (Project Title: ElSa: A Novel Real-Time Wildlife Poacher Detection Solution Leveraging Machine Learning-Driven Spatio-temporal Analysis of Nighttime UAV Thermal Infrared Videos.)

Pravalika Putalapattu, 17, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia. (Project Title: DORC: Dynamic Operating Room Companion for Gallbladder Removal Surgical Workflow Verification.)

Sasvath Ramachandran, 17, The Harker School, California. (Project Title: Genomic Reconstruction and Phylogenetic Analyses of Cycloclasticus, a Dominant Microbe at the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.)

Navya Ramakrishnan, 17, Plano Senior High School, Texas. (Project Title: An Intelligent System for the Prediction of Epileptic Seizures Using Machine Learning Algorithms.)

Kannammai Pichappan, 17, Bergen County Academies, New Jersey. (Project Title: A Novel, Non-Invasive, Schwann Cell Supporting Approach to Peripheral Nervous System Degenerative Disease.)

Hrishika Roychoudhury, 17, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, North Carolina. (Project Title: Development of an Anticancer Agent by Green Synthesis of Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles Using Agri-Food Byproducts as a Novel Reducing Agent.)

Varsha Saravanan, 18, Hauppauge High School, New York. (Project Title: Baseline Framework for Assessing Community Resilience Using a Balanced Index Approach and Spatial Autocorrelation in the Mill River Watershed, Nassau County, New York.)

Harshita Sehgal, 18, Roslyn High School, New York. (Project Title: Understanding the Evolutionary Development of Radio-Resistance in the Brassicae Family.)

Arnav Shah, 17, Bronx High School of Science, New York, (Project Title: A Novel Reinforcement Learning-Assisted Self-Correcting Hybrid Quantum-Classical Algorithm to Simulate Molecular Systems and Compute Ground State Energies.)

Cameron Sharma, 18, Mills E. Godwin High School, Virginia. (Project Title: FluVaxAI: A Novel AI Inspired Regional Flu Vaccine Formulation.)

Maya Sharma, 17, Eastside Preparatory School, Washington. (Project Title: Computational Analysis of Specific Indicators to Manage Crop Yield and Profits Under Extreme Heat and Climate Change Conditions.)

Savar Sinha, 17, Hamilton High School, Arizona. (Project Title: The Persistence of Homology: Unity and Diversity in Eukaryotic ATP Synthases.)

Arnab Sircar, 18, Unionville High School, Pennsylvania. (Project Title: Characterization of Emotional Contagion in Collaborative Decision Support Systems.)

Ashwin Sivakumar, 17, Flintridge Preparatory School, California. (Project Title: Late Pleistocene Fossils Recontextualize the Ecology of Introduced Turkeys in California.)

Vivek Sreejithkumar, 18, Florida Atlantic University High School, Florida. (Project Title: The Evolution of the Identifiable Analysis of the COVID-19 Virus.)

Siddharth Tiwari, 16, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Illinois. (Project Title: On the Relationship Between Pain Variability and Relief in Randomized Clinical Trials.)

Nishi Uppuluri, 17, Edgemont High School, New York. (Project Title: Developing the Writing Skills of Elementary Schoolers Using Computational Linguistics Techniques).

Annika Vaidyanathan, 17, Winter Springs High School, Florida. (Project Title: Dynamic Contact Angle Measurements of Superhydrophobicity in Dip-Coated Face Masks to Minimize Exposure to COVID-19 Sized Nanoparticles.)

Pratik Vangal, 18, Sunset High School, Oregon. (Project Title: A Biologically-Inspired, Biomarker-Driven, Rapid Early Warning System for Epileptic Onset Prediction and Seizure Detection Using Machine Learning). 

Keelan Vaswani, 17, Harrison High School, New York. (Project Title: Patterns in Cognitive Distortions Among High School Students: An Analysis of How Social and Achievement Situations Influence Types of Thinking.)