Three Indian American students are among the top ten winners in the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search, America’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.
Neil Chowdhury, 18, of Bellevue, Washington, Pravalika Gayatri Putalapattu, 17, of Centreville, Virginia, and Neil Rathi, 17, of Palo Alto, California won the fifth, seventh, and eighth places respectively.
More than $1.8 million was awarded to the 40 finalists, who were evaluated based on their projects’ scientific rigor, their exceptional problem-solving abilities, and their potential to become scientific leaders, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Society for Science announced March 15.
Fifth place winner Chowdhury received a $90,000 award for creating a computer model to study the role of a histone protein implicated in colon cancer and found that the histone caused changes to two key processes regulating the way DNA folds itself to fit into the nucleus of cells.
Seventh place winner Putalapattu received a $70,000 award for designing a video-assisted workflow recognition program to monitor laparoscopic gall bladder surgeries in real-time, verify the surgeons’ actions, and flag errors so immediate corrective action can be taken.
Eighth place winner Rathi received a $60,000 award for identifying common linguistic patterns in four languages that support the theory that human language evolved for greater efficiency in communication.
For the first time since 2019, the competition was carried out in person under strict Covid-19 protocols in Washington, DC, after virtual competitions in 2020 and 2021. The finalists were honored during a live-streamed award ceremony emceed by Saturday Night Live’s Melissa Villaseñor.
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