Rhea Malhotra '20 and Neil Deshmukh'20 have been named top 300 scholars in the 79^th Regeneron Science Talent Search—the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition for high school seniors.

Rhea submitted a project entitled "Developing a Novel Drug Development Model: Optical Coherence Tomography for Cardiovascular Diseases & Diabetes In Vivo. "

Neil's submitted a project entitled "An Adaptive, Low-Cost Device for Automated Offline Medical Analysis Utilizing Interpretable Neural Networks with Reinforcement Learning Optimization." 

Rhea and Neil will each receive $2,000, and Moravian Academy will also receive $4,000 to use toward STEM-related activities.

Both students could also be named as one of 40 finalists, which will be announced on January 22nd. Each top 40 finalist will receive $25,000 and are invited to Washington, DC for the final competition in March. The top prize for the most promising emerging STEM leader in the United States is $250,000.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search, founded and produced by the Society for Science & the Public, recognizes and empowers promising young scientists in the United States who are creating the ideas and solutions that will address our world’s most urgent challenges.

This year, nearly 2,000 students from 659 high schools across 49 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and eight countries entered the competition. Scholars, including Rhea, were chosen based on their exceptional research skills, commitment to academics, innovative thinking and promise as scientists and hail from 192 American and international high schools in 39 states and Guam. A list of the top 300 selected scholars can be found here. 

“We are inspired by the incredible energy and passion of every scholar who is using research to make the world a better place,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public, Publisher of Science News and 1985 Science Talent Search alum. “These young students will be the key to unlocking solutions to many of our world’s most pressing challenges.”

Congratulations, Rhea and Neil!

Read this article and other content in the Spring 2020 Moravian Academy Journal.