Eureka! Lab

Highlights from the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search

This year’s high school finalists were honored at a formal gala

Regeneron STS 2017

The finalists of the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search celebrate on stage at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

C. Ayers/SSP

By Bethany Brookshire

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Being too young to vote didn’t keep these teens from doing some serious science. Finalists in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search tackled some of the world’s biggest problems. They ranged from probing how to treat brain injury to measuring the temperature of the ocean.

Run by Society for Science & the Public and sponsored by Regeneron (a company that develops new medications), the Science Talent Search was established in 1942. Every year, it brings together 40 U.S. high school seniors to share their science projects with the public and to compete for monetary prizes. This year’s finalists were honored at a gala at the National Building Museum on Tuesday, March 14. The top winner, Indrani Das, 18, is a senior at the Academy for Medical Science Technology in Hackensack, N.J. She took home a prize of $250,000.

Eureka! Lab live-tweeted from the gala (follow @eureka_labs), and we have collected below the tweets, photos and Facebook Live video that ran during the event. Congratulations to the 40 amazing finalists!

Note: Parts of this story were removed due to technical glitches.

Power Words

More About Power Words

high school     A designation for grades nine through 12 in the U.S. system of compulsory public education. High-school graduates may apply to colleges for further, advanced education.

Science Talent Search     An annual competition created and run by Society for Science & the Public. Begun in 1942, this event brings 40 research-oriented high school seniors to Washington, D.C. each year to showcase their research to the public and to compete for awards. Since spring 2016, this competition has been sponsored by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Society for Science and the Public    A nonprofit organization created in 1921 and based in Washington, D.C. Since its founding, SSP has been not only promoting public engagement in scientific research but also the public understanding of science. It created and continues to run three renowned science competitions: the Regeneron Science Talent Search (begun in 1942), the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (initially launched in 1950) and Broadcom MASTERS (created in 2010). SSP also publishes award-winning journalism: in Science News (launched in 1922) and Science News for Students (created in 2003). Those magazines also host a series of blogs (including Eureka! Lab).

technology     The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.

tweet     Message consisting of 140 or fewer characters that is available to people with an online Twitter account.

 

About Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire was a longtime staff writer at Science News Explores and is the author of the book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. She has a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology and likes to write about neuroscience, biology, climate and more. She thinks Porgs are an invasive species.