Regeneron Science Talent Search

History

While attending the 1939 New York World's Fair, Society for Science director Watson Davis met Edward Pendray, a Westinghouse Electric Corporation executive. Together, they brainstormed ways to encourage youth to go into scientific fields and expand science fair competitions to the national level, and created the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (Westinghouse STS). The first competition was held in 1942, won by Paul Teschan of Shorewood, Wisconsin and Marina Meyers of Farmingdale, New York. Throughout an era of sexism in academia, the competition has always allowed male and female students to compete, though awards were given separately until 1949.

In 1998, Intel outbid several other potential sponsors and became the competition's sponsor; the name of the competition was changed from the Westinghouse Science Talent Search to the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS). In May 2016, it was announced that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals would be the new title sponsor. Since its founding, some 147,000 students have entered the competition. Over 22,000 have been named semifinalists and 2,920 have traveled to Washington, D.C., as contest finalists. Collectively, they have received millions of dollars in scholarships and gone on to later receive MacArthur Fellowships (20 alumni), Nobel Prizes (13 alumni), National Medals of Science (eleven alumni), the Breakthrough Prize (seven alumni), the Fields Medal (two alumni), the Lasker Award (two alumni) and numerous other accolades. Multiple alumni were later elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, and many have served in various government positions and as professors at top universities. Actress Natalie Portman was a semifinalist in 1998 and 1947 participant Leon Cooper's name was borrowed for Sheldon Cooper, a character on The Big Bang Theory who is portrayed as being a science prodigy.

Competition

Entrants to the competition conduct original research — sometimes at home and sometimes by working with research teams at universities, hospitals and private laboratories. The selection process is highly competitive, and a research paper, letters of recommendation, essays, test scores, extracurricular activities, and high school transcripts are factored in the selection of finalists and winners.

Prizes

Each year, approximately 2,000 projects are submitted. The top 300 scholars (previously called semifinalists or honorable mentions) are announced in mid-January and each receive $2,000. In addition to the scholar award prize money, each scholar's school receives an award of $2,000 from the title sponsor for each scholar named. In late January, the top 40 finalists (the award winners) are announced. In March, finalists are flown to Washington, D.C., for a week, where they are interviewed by a judging panel about their projects and to assess their STEM knowledge, creativity and problem-solving abilities. Past judges have included Glenn T. Seaborg and Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., both Nobel laurates. The top 40 finalists each receive prizes starting at $25,000 and the winners are announced at an awards ceremony.

Demography

The Science Talent Search is open to high school seniors living in the United States, and US citizens living abroad. Since the beginning of the competition, a large number of winners have come from New York, representing nearly one-third of the finalists in the years that Westinghouse sponsored the competition. New York has continued to lead the states in finalists in more recent years, more closely followed by California, and with significant numbers of finalists from Maryland, Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Florida, Virginia, and Illinois.

Certain high schools have been particularly successful at placing semifinalists and finalists in the Science Talent Search. From the early years of the competition, two specialized high schools in New York City dominated the competition: Bronx High School of Science and Stuyvesant High School. Other New York schools have also had notable success in the competition, including Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, Byram Hills High School in Armonk, Jericho High School in Jericho, and Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School in Port Washington. In the 1980s and 1990s, other specialized STEM schools, including Virginia's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and Maryland's Montgomery Blair High School, began to produce large numbers of finalists to rival the New York schools. In the 21st century, a new group of specialized STEM schools have had growing success in the competition, including New Jersey's Bergen County Academies, and the private Harker School in California.

List of winners

1942–1948

1949–present

Other past winners

References

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