On 9 January, Wheatley Seniors Manan Shukla and Brandon Zhu were named scholars in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search!

In 2017, Regeneron became only the third sponsor (after Westinghouse and Intel) of the Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. As part of its 10-year, $100 million commitment, Regeneron nearly doubled the overall award distribution to $3.1 million annually to better reward the best and brightest young minds. Founded and led by two Science Talent Search alumni, Regeneron recognizes and prioritizes the need to inspire more young people to engage in science.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars were selected from 1,964 applications, which were received from 601 high schools in 48 states, two U.S. territories and eligible students living in seven other countries. The scholars were selected based on their exceptional research skills, commitment to academics, innovative thinking and promise as scientists. This year, research projects cover topics from bioengineering to environmental science to physics.

Manan’s project, “Creating Affordable and Objective Healthcare Solutions Using IoT and Cloud Technology,” was created in response to a problem he identified in the current health care system: physicians cannot treat their patients effectively because they lack accurate patient information to make proper decisions. This manifests itself in particular with patients who do not accurately report their medication intake. As a result, Manan created a smart pill dispenser that uses IoT cloud connectivity to not only quantify patient behaviors and determine medication usage but can also send this information to their physician so that patient treatment is based on objective data rather than inaccurate reporting. Manan’s project was highlighted earlier this year in this blog. You can read about it through this link.

Brandon’s project, “Efficient Zero-Knowledge Using Garbled Circuits Under the Plain Model,” was designed in response to the reality that our online security is constantly at risk of data breaches. To tackle this, Brandon created a secure encryption protocol based on cutting-edge techniques, such as commitment schemes and zero knowledge, that maintains security regardless of an attacker’s computational power. This enhanced protocol preserves full security without detrimental assumptions such as non-malleability and has even been tested to run more efficiently than less-perfect protocols.

On January 23, 40 of the 300 scholars will be named Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists.

You can read Newsday’s coverage of Long Island’s scholars through this link: Regeneron Scholars Newsday 9Jan19

You can view all of the 300 Regeneron Scholars here: STS 2019 Scholar Book

Congratulations Manan and Brandon!