WASHINGTON: An Indian-American teen from Michigan has won the prestigious science talent search award for higher college students in the United States.
Neel Moudgal, 17, of Saline, Michigan, will acquire the USD 250,000 award in the 2023 Regeneron Science Talent Search for building a laptop model that can quickly and reliably predict the structure of ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules utilizing only simply accessible information.
He believes it will make it simpler to diagnose and treat specific illnesses.
It is the oldest and most prestigious science and maths competitors for higher college seniors in the United States.
According to a statement, Neel’s computational model consists of a library of doable shapes for a offered RNA molecule primarily based on its atomic structure. A statistical system assigns weights to every single structure in the library, favouring structures that closely resemble experimental information. By utilizing 2D histograms for reweighting, his model eliminates the need to have to assign chemical shift information.
As lots of as 40 finalists, which includes Neel, had been honoured for the duration of a reside-streamed award ceremony emceed by American Broadcaster Soledad O’Brien. A lot more than USD 1.eight million was awarded to the finalists, who had been evaluated primarily based on their projects’ scientific rigour, their exceptional issue-solving skills and their possible to develop into leaders in STEM.
Second location and USD 1,75,000 went to Emily Ocasio, 18, of Fairfax, Virginia, who utilized artificial intelligence to establish no matter whether humanising language was utilized by the Boston Globe in the years spanning 1976-84 when describing homicide victims. She located that Black victims received much less humanising coverage than white victims.
Third location and USD 1,50,000 went to Ellen Xu, 17, of San Diego, California, for creating an algorithm that utilizes a smartphone photo of the patient to help in the diagnosis of Kawasaki illness, the major bring about of acquired heart illness in youngsters amongst one particular and 5.
“Congratulations to the winners of the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023,” mentioned Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science and Executive Publisher of Science News.
“These young leaders are the stewards of our future. I am in awe of their creativity and conviction,” she mentioned.