Students win awards at international science and math competition

Two Fox Chapel Area High School students won awards at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF) 2021. Junior Zoe Lakkis received a third-place Grand Award of $1,000 in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics category for her project titled “Data Mining to Identify Therapeutic Targets for Transplant Rejection.” Sophomore Arvind Seshan received a third-place Grand Award of $1,000 in the Systems Software category for his project titled “Enabling High-Accuracy Human Activity Recognition with Fine-Grained Indoor Localization.” He also received a special award of $1,200 from the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and an American Statistical Association special award. Students were judged for their projects’ creativity, innovation, and scientific inquiry.

International judging took place in early May via video conferencing. More than 1,800 young scientists representing 49 states and 64 countries around the world competed for prizes worth more than $5 million. Official Regeneron ISEF events took place virtually in mid-May and featured distinguished panels, the finalist exhibit hall, a career hall, the ISEF college fair and a STEM experiential hall.

“Congratulations to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2021 winners,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science and Publisher of Science News. “Every single Regeneron ISEF finalist has persevered in their pursuit of science in the face of the myriad challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we could not be prouder to showcase their work on a global stage. We look forward to seeing the contributions these young leaders continue to make to their fields and the world.”

Regeneron ISEF provides a global stage for future leaders in STEM – bringing together the best and brightest young minds to present their original research ideas to leading scientists and peers. Founded by the belief that advances in science are key to solving global challenges, Regeneron ISEF works to support and invest in young scientists who are generating ideas and acting as catalysts for the change needed to improve the well-being of all people and the planet.

The Regeneron ISEF is the world’s largest global high school STEM competition and is a program of Society for Science. Zoe and Arvind qualified for the Regeneron ISEF by being named overall winners at the virtual Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair (PRSEF) held in March.