Greenwich High School students’ STEM research sends them to D.C.
Greenwich High School science teacher Andrew Bramante with his students Ambika Grover, left, and Angelina Fogarty, right. Grover and Fogarty are finalists in the 2023 Regenevou Science Talent Search for their work in chemistry and biology.
GREENWICH — Greenwich High School seniors Ambika Grover and Angelina Fogarty prepared for the Regeneron Science Talent Search finals by reading science-related texts — and now the two are in Washington, D.C, putting their knowledge to the test.
“The advice I got from former finalists was just read as much as you can, so I’ve been reading anything in science, just tune myself into how the real world phenomenon works, I guess,” Grover said. “Definitely just familiarizing myself more because it’s sort of a responsibility. You’ve gotten this recognition, so you’ve got to make the most of it.”
The two survived the grueling lead-up to one of the nation’s most prestigious science and math competitions and were among eight local high school seniors — five from Greenwich High — who made the first cut, being named one of 300 Regeneron scholars. Scholars were selected from 1,949 total applicants from 627 high school across 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and four other countries. The pool of 300 was narrowed to 40 in January, with those students moving on to finals, being held this week in the nation’s capital.
Both Grover and Fogarty started working on their projects during their junior year as part of the high school’s Honors Independent Science Research class, taught by Andrew Bramante. Grover’s topic tackles curing a specific type of stroke, while Fogarty’s looks into detecting illicit drugs in alcoholic beverages.
“In this program, the
kids drive the process,” Bramante said. “They do the work, they originate the idea, they formulate the design and they carry it through. They own it, they really do.”
In the past 15 years, Bramante said, he has had about 10 students attend the competition as finalists and about 50 students named Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars. He said the majority of the students who have been finalists pursue a career in science after they graduate high school.
Grover said she is interested in medicine, specifically cardiovascular disease. However, she focused her project on ischemic strokes after doing research and speaking with someone who survived one. According to the Mayo Clinic, an ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks or narrows an artery leading to the brain. Her project is titled “Design of a Novel, Dual-Functioning, Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Factor XI-Inhibiting Anticoagulant Therapeutic for Rapid Ischemic Stroke Treatment.”
“Anytime we have a conversation with someone who has been affected by something, it really humanizes it,” Grover said. “That was the point where I was like I definitely wanted to research more into this condition.”
Fogarty said she became interested in her project after her health class teacher asked students what they were most nervous about when it comes to going to college. Some students put down drug-facilitated sexual assault.
Her project, “Rapid, Visual Detection of Illicit Substances in a Variety of Environments via Competitive, Amine-Responsive Fluorophores,” tackles a topic that is very prevalent in the lives of young women, she said.
“Although there is an attempt to educate and help protect a lot of young adults with things like ‘dress more conservatively,’ ‘always go with a friend,’ none of the methods taught or provided to us really guaranteed safety, so I wanted to come up with something that brought that back into the hands of users,” Fogarty said.
This year, members of a national jury of scientists selected the 40 finalists “based on the originality and creativity of their scientific research, as well as their achievement and leadership both inside and outside of the classroom,” according to the Society for Science website.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search will award each of the finalists at least $25,000, with the top award winners receiving from $40,000 to $250,000.
On March 14, at the end of finals week in Washington D.C., the judges will announce the winners at an awards ceremony. Grover said she is looking forward to meeting the other finalists.
“There is really such a breadth and depth of different research projects there and I feel like just interacting, I am going to learn so much from people who have done so many different things,” she said. “I’m definitely really excited to meet everyone — and everything I’ve heard about finals week is that it’s a lot of fun. I know judging will probably be intense but I’ve heard that it’s really just a once-in-alifetime opportunity.”