I like to think of myself as a lifelong researcher.
Every since seventh grade, STS has been my goal.
I knew from the start.
I would read the finalists' projects and I hoped that one day,
that could be me.
I remember I walked into this big room full of trifolds.
People who were in there told me that these were projects for the Regeneron science competition.
And I was just so amazed that this was an opportunity that I could have as a high schooler.
STS is, you know, the best competition for seniors
and honestly in science and all of high school.
So to be one of the top 40 feels amazing.
Oscar Wilde wrote: "When it rains, look for rainbows."
"When it's dark, look for stars."
The 40 Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists
are the embodiment of this quote.
They aren't just looking for stars; they are shooting for them.
This pandemic, the past year, really couldn’t stop us from pursuing our scientific dreams.
Following COVID-19, my lab got shut down.
So I had to find some other way to try to continue my research.
In order to adapt and improvise, I built a makeshift neuroscience lab in my bathroom.
Originally I was testing patients in the office.
I had to change the direction of my research to allow for more testing without contact.
I think one thing that’s kept me motivated is that ability to keep on learning.
You know, I was learning new tools.
I think I learned that in order to do research, I have to be able to take more risks.
You always have to be ready to try new things.
This week has been so amazing and so inspiring
with events ranging from alumni dinners to talent shows.
One of my favorite events was the virtual escape room.
It was just an amazing way to bond with each other, you know,
share different types of information.
We’ve had the opportunity to go on a virual field trip to Facebook, to SpaceX
And I was particularly psyched about going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Today, we had a really cool prime time with Regeneron
where they took us around their Genetics Center and taught us about
what it is that makes Regeneron special in the genetics department.
We’ve had 13 alumni win the Nobel Prize.
And I’m so honored to have four of those alumni with us today.
It’s very important for young people to get confidence.
It’s one of the most important assets a scientist can have, to be brave.
Just getting this exclusive access to some of the nation’s leaders.
And being able to learn how we directly can make a difference.
I really liked to meet all the judges and
the interviews have all been very interesting.
I got to hear a lot of interesting questions.
I was really excited to go into each judging room and hear what the judges asked me.
But also I was really excited after the judging to just play games with my fellow finalists.
Every single day has just been a compendium of events.
Tons of Zooms and as soon as all of those Zooms finish, I’d eat dinner and get back on Zoom with my other finalists.
(singing Happy Birthday to Jeffrey)
I’ve been able to meet a lot of really cool, really smart, really amazing people my age
who are just really inspiring, you know, the stories they have.
It’s almost this, like, team-building event
even though it still technically is a competition.
I’m just so grateful that even if it is difficult to do things remotely,
it really is possible to make really valuable connections and brighten each others’ days.
Hands down, it’s been one of the best weeks of my life.
Today, I got the chance to see the projects of all the other finalists and
it was just so amazing how it just spanned across all areas of sciences.
And some of them are just so pertinent issues that really need to be addressed.
The inspiration for my project was seeing many of my peers using e-cigarettes
and knowing that a lot of them thought that they were harmless.
My algorithm can improve traffic flow, decrease the number of car crashes,
and also decrease the amount of pollution caused by vehicle-related emissions.
My project is about developing better computer architectures to better support artificial intelligence algorithms.
My research is on discovering a new chemical reaction
that can create a variety of pharmaceutical intermediates
like the antidepressant milnacipran.
My project is about studying how socially-vulnerable communities
have been impacted by infectious disease spread like COVID-19.
It’s incredible that we’re celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Science Talent Search.
Going back, it’s incredible to realize the numbers of
important scientists who went on to invent new medicines, to win Nobel Prizes, to change the world.
To be selected as one of 40 finalists, it means that
hopefully I’m on the right direction to becoming a great scientist in the future.
Being a Regeneron Science Talent Search finalist really makes me feel so empowered
to go out in the world and really make differences through science.
So many of the alumni have accomplished such great things that just
being part of that community is just a really amazing and really humbling experience.
It means that I’m really capable
of solving the world’s problems that are yet to come.
It gives me the confidence that if I keep continuing,
then I will be able to get results and that motivates me to keep going.
Being an STS finalist, it’s not just the title.
It’s something that I can use to show other first-generation Latina kids out there that they can do it too.
It’s really cool to see my own project inspiring other people to join the science research program.
I really enjoy that this puts me in a position to help other young scientists.
To know that I’m inspiring some kid somewhere in a classroom,
that is enough to get me out of the bed in the morning and that’s really who I do it for.
I think the importance of young people, especially right now, is that
we are faced with a world that has a variety of different challenges.
And the only way that we’re going to be able to combat them is all sorts of perspectives.
Knowing that there’s so many scientists in so many places,
working on so many different things does give me hope for the future.
One thing that gives me hope for the future is
science is almost impossible for it to go backwards because you know, knowledge is always being built upon.
To be able to hope for a brighter future, I think is one of the key driving forces between research,
hoping that we can make a better future and then actually acting upon it.
Welcome to this very special evening.
The awards ceremony for the 80th annual Regeneron Science Talent Search.
It is now my honor to announce the top 10 winners of the 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search.
The 10th place winner: Sam Christian.
The 9th place winner: Vivian Yee.
The 8th place winner: Wenjun Hou.
The 7th place winner: Alay Shah.
The 6th place winner: Vetri Vel.
The 5th place winner: Timothy Chenglei Qian.
The 4th place winner: Gopal Krishna Goel.
The 3rd place winner: Eshani Jha.
The 2nd place winner: Noah Benjamin Getz.
And the 1st place winner: Yunseo Choi.