Silver Spring Students Compete In Prestigious Science Competition

SILVER SPRING, MD — Four students will be representing Montgomery Blair High School as finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, a prestigious math and science competition.

The students are among 40 finalists from more than 1,800 entries. From March 8-14, they will present their projects to judges in Washington, DC, meet with renowned scientists and compete for $1.8 million in awards. Every finalist will receive $25,000, while the top 10 are awarded up to a grand prize of $250,000.

The finalists and their projects are:

• Sarah Gao, 17, Developing Phage Endolysins as Novel Therapeutics for Multi-drug Resistant Bacterial Infections
• Andrew Komo, 17, Cryptographically Secure Proxy Bidding in Ascending Clock Auctions
• David Wu, 17, Nonuniform Distributions of Patterns of Sequences of Primes in Prime Moduli
• Alice Zhang, 17, A Dynamic Programming Algorithm for Minimizing Delays in Traffic Intersections

The competition, held by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and the Society for Science & the Public, selects students "based upon their scientific research and also on their overall potential as future leaders of the scientific community." Science Talent Search alumni gone on to make substantial contributions to science and medical treatment and hold honors such as the Nobel Prize and the National Medal of Science.

"This year's Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists are some of the best and brightest young scientists and mathematicians in our country," said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for Science & the Public and publisher of "Science News." "Their projects demonstrate the remarkable power of scientific curiosity, commitment and the desire to make the world a better place. We are eager to see how they shape the future of STEM in our country and impact people all across the globe."

See all finalists and information about the competition here.

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