The Regeneron Science Talent Search has announced its finalists competing to earn $250,000, and one comes from Westchester.
Skyler Jones of Ossining is one of 40 high school seniors heading to Washington, D.C. from March 8 – 14. There, her project, involving research into cheaper forms of solar energy, will undergo one last round of judging.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search is a nationwide science and math competition for high school seniors. Students present a completed original research project for a series of judging.
This year’s finalists come from 31 schools in 15 states.
Jones’s project looks into replacing silicon solar cells with cheaper and equally efficient perovskite crystals as semiconductors in solar cells, the parts of solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity.
All finalists are assured a $25,000 prize, however if placed within the top 10, Jones would win between $40,000 and $250,000.
The top 10 will be announced at a black-tie gala event at the National Building Museum on March 13.
All finalists will also have the opportunity to display their projects to the public at the National Museum of Women in the Arts on March 11, as well as meet members of Congress and leading scientists.
Jones wasn’t the only Ossining High School senior to participate in the talent search. Three others made it to the semifinals: Sarah Hoffman, Catherine Kamp, and Emma San Martin.
Their projects involved research into Alzheimer’s in different genders, microplastic pollution, and energy level differences between able-bodied people and lower leg amputees, respectively.
Each received $2,000 for their placement in the semifinals.
The talent search is run by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Society for Science & the Public. It was originally known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search from 1942-1947, and then the Intel Science Talent Search from 1998-2016.
13 past participants have won Nobel Prizes, all but one of which were for their scientific work: six finalists, five semifinalists, one highest ranked boy, and one first place winner overall.
