Thirty-three Long Island high school seniors were named Regeneron Science Talent Search semifinalists Wednesday — an historic low for the Island but still higher than any other region in the United States.
This year’s scholar total represented a dip from last year’s 49. Since 2000, Long Island — which has routinely produced dozens of semifinalists — had a peak of 89 scholars in 2003 and a low of 36 in 2020, according to Newsday archives.
A total of 300 scholars nationwide were chosen from more than 2,600 entrants, according to the Society for Science, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that started and runs the Regeneron competition.
San Francisco had 28 scholars, the second-highest number after Long Island, the society said. Westchester had 23 semifinalists and New York City had 19.
Of the Island’s scholars this year, 10, or nearly a third attend Jericho High School, according to a list released by the society. The Nassau school has the highest number of scholars out of the 826 high schools with student entrants in the U.S. and abroad, the society said.
Herricks High School in New Hyde Park and Roslyn High School each has four semifinalists, and Syosset High School has three. Great Neck’s two high schools also have three students claiming a spot on the list.
“Their research highlights the creativity, rigor and determination that’s pushing forward the future of scientific discovery,” Maya Ajmera, president of Society for Science, said in a statement. “We are honored to recognize their achievements and support their continued pursuit of STEM excellence.”
Most Island semifinalists attend public schools, except for three who go to private schools: Saint Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, with two students, and Friends Academy in Locust Valley, with one.
Each of the selected scholars will receive $2,000, and their schools will receive a matching amount.
The list will narrow down to 40 finalists, to be announced later this month. In March, finalists will go to Washington, D.C., to present their projects. The top 10 winners will be announced on March 10; the top award in the contest is $250,000.
Last year, Melody Hong, then a 17-year-old from General Douglas MacArthur High School in the Levittown school district, took sixth place and won an $80,000 prize for her project.
The annual student science competition, founded in 1942, is the oldest in the country. Alumni include Nobel laureates and MacArthur fellows. Students submit independent, original research and are judged by leading experts in their fields.
The work the scholars produced this year ranged from cancer research to the medical application of artificial intelligence. Their project titles include “Relationship Between Vicarious Embarrassment and Adolescents’ Self-Expression on Social Media” and “A WRF-Based Analysis of TC Ophelia & Elevated SSTs on the Sept. 29, 2023 Tri-state Flooding Event.”
The contest has been sponsored since 2017 by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Tarrytown-based biotechnology company. Before Regeneron, it was funded by Intel and before that by Westinghouse.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.