Six Stony Brook University Faculty Mentor Regeneron STS Scholars

Ten high school students from across the country who worked with six Stony Brook University faculty mentors have been named among the top 300 scholars in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search (Regeneron STS) competition.

All of the semifinalists are fellows of Stony Brook University's Simons Summer Research Program, which teaches high school students how to conduct college-level research. Since 1997, approximately 600 semifinalists have been mentored by faculty at Stony Brook.

Regeneron STS is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors, recognizing exceptional young scientists and engineers who demonstrate creativity, leadership, and a commitment to tackling significant global challenges.

The semifinalists were selected from a pool of more than 2,600 applicants representing 826 high schools across 46 states, Washington, D.C., Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and 16 countries. Each scholar and their respective high school will receive a $2,000 award. On January 21, the competition will announce 40 finalists who will compete for over $3.1 million in awards during a week-long event in Washington, D.C., from March 5-11.

Stony Brook Faculty Mentors:

Benjamin Hsiao, distinguished professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry, worked with three students: Lakshmi Agrawal of Stanford University Online High School in Stanford, California on Stormwater Remediation of 6PPD and 6PPD-Quinone Using Citric Acid and Aluminum-Crosslinked Nanocellulose Hydrosponges; Lucienne Keyoung of Manhasset High School in Manhasset, New York on Tunable Morphology of Zero-Waste Cellulose Nanofiber Hydrogels via a Novel GelatinMediated Ice Inhibition Mechanism for Sustainable Agriculture and Water Remediation; and Keith Xin of Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago, Illinois on High-Capacity Al3+/Fe3+-Crosslinked Nanocellulose Hydrogels for Arsenite Removal: A Zero-Waste Approach to Water Remediation.

Mohammad Javad Amiri, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, worked with Eric Zhou of Troy High School in Troy, Michigan on Adaptive DAG-Based BFT Consensus Protocols Using Machine Learning.

Yuefan Deng, professor in the CEAS Department of Applied Math and Statistics, worked with Shawnak Shivakumar of Menlo Atherton High School in Atherton, California on Drugging the Undruggable: AI-Enabled Discovery of a Novel Cryptic Pocket and Inhibitors
in Oncogenic eIF4E.

Zhenhua Liu, associate professor in the CEAS Department of Applied Math and Statistics and affiliated with the Department of Computer Science and Smart Energy Technology Cluster, worked with Tina Xing of Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, New York on Carbon-Aware Reserve Allocation and Checkpoint Scheduling for GPU Sustainability.

Howard Sirotkin, associate professor in the Department of Neurology and Behavior in the College of Arts and Sciences and Renaissance School of Medicine, worked with Everett Jin of St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas, Texas on Behavioral Characterization of Zebrafish Seizures for Epilepsy Modeling.

Nengkun Yu, associate professor and SUNY Empire Innovation Scholar in the CEAS Department of Computer Science, worked with Angie Huang of East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota on Entanglement Sudden Death via Repeated Entanglement Swapping.

Two other Simons Fellows who completed research projects conducted elsewhere were also named semifinalists: Edward Kang of Bergen County Academies in New Jersey (RetinaMind: Convergent In Silico and In Vitro Evidence for the Retina as a Novel Biomarker in the Early Diagnosis of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) and Bryan Zhu of Bellevue High School in Washington (Dimension Reduction for Smooth Convex Optimization via Color Refinement).

"Congratulations to the top 300 scholars in this year's Regeneron Science Talent Search," said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO, Society for Science and Publisher, Science News. "Their research highlights the creativity, rigor and determination that's pushing forward the future of scientific discovery. We are honored to recognize their achievements and support their continued pursuit of STEM excellence."

Administered by the Society for Science, the Regeneron STS has been identifying and celebrating the nation's most promising young scientists since 1942. The competition challenges students to present original research on critical scientific issues and recognizes their contributions to advancing knowledge in fields ranging from biomedical science to environmental sustainability.