In a nation wracked by the coronavirus pandemic, an unprecedented crisis that has put science and scientific pursuits up front and center, it is heartening to know that eight brilliant Indian American teens are among 40 finalists, some 20 percent, in the current edition of the highly acclaimed Regeneron Science Talent Search (Regeneron STS) competition. It’s a noteworthy figure when one considers that Indian-Americans as a whole comprise about one percent of the US population.

The 40 budding scientists are all set to participate in a virtual competition from March 10-17 during which they will present their innovative research projects to eminent judges, compete for more than $1.8 million in awards, interact with renowned scientists, and display their work to the public in an online event on March 14. Winners of the top ten prizes, ranging from $40,000 up to $250,000, will be announced March 17 during a live-streamed virtual awards ceremony designed to keep the finalists and their families safe in the midst of a raging virus.

The Regeneron STS is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for pre-college students drawing exceptionally qualified entrants from across the country and beyond. In the latest edition, finalists hail from 37 schools and one home school across 15 states.

Last month, 300 scholars were selected from a pool of 1,760 applicants from 611 high schools in 45 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and ten countries. The semi-finalists were awarded $2,000 each in addition to their school receiving a grant of an equivalent amount.

Of these ‘Top Scholars’, 40 finalists who will receive a minimum award of $25,000 were then named including eight Indian American teens: Laalitya Acharya, 17, William Mason High School, Mason, Ohio; Akhilesh Balasingam, 17, Archbishop Mitty High School, San Jose, California; Gopal Goel, 17, Krishna Homeschool, Portland, Oregon; Vedanth Iyer, 17, Sunset High School, Portland, Oregon; Eshani Jha, 17, Lynbrook High School, San Jose, California; Anushka Sanyal, 17, Homestead High School, Cupertino, California; Alay Shah, 17, Plano West Senior High School, Plano, Texas; and Vetri Vel, 16, Bangor High School, Bangor, Maine.

The finalists have attempted to tackle some of the world’s compelling issues through their scientific projects such as helping to assess the severity of Covid-19 by diagnostic imaging, examining the impact of e-cigarettes on the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and creating a new way to filter toxins more effectively from wastewater.

A trip to India inspired Laalitya to take action on the water gap. During the visit she discovered that many people were falling ill, including herself, from drinking contaminated water.

In a video posted by the Society for Science which administers the Regeneron STS, Laalitya talks of her creation, Nereid, a cohesive device that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) processing to determine if there are contaminants in a sample of water.

The young innovator created a microscopic camera which consistently takes images of the water sample, using the AI processing model to ascertain if contamination is present and then transmits the findings to a local water plant for further analysis as necessary.

“This device is cost effective and can be directly applied into a water system leading it to have an extremely high longevity and global applicability”, says Laalitya who is currently working with local authorities to help get the device implemented in her hometown for initial real world testing.

Apart from her love of science and scientific research, Laalitya plays the violin and piano, and is passionate about exercising especially running, knee injuries notwithstanding.

Akhilesh was motivated by the need to develop faster and more energy efficient computers for AI. In a video released by the organizer of the competition, the teen reveals that his research focuses on optimizing a device which can simultaneously perform memory and arithmetic operations and this enables hardware that can speed up algorithms while consuming little energy.

In his spare time, Akhilesh plays the mridangam (Indian classical drum), paints, plays squash, hikes and cycles.

On its Twitter account, Sigma Xi, the international honor society for scientists and engineers, enthused, “Congratulations to six previous Sigma Xi student research competition participants for being finalists in the 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search: Vedanth Iyer, Alay Shah, Wenjun Hou, Akhilesh Balasingam, Jessie Gan, and Laalitya Acharya”.

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