Krish Pai, a 17-year-old Indian American from Del Mar, California, won the second Regeneron Young Scientist Award, receiving $50,000 at the 2024 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, the largest pre-college science and engineering competition globally.
He was honored for his machine-learning research aimed at identifying microbial genetic sequences capable of biodegrading plastic. On May 17, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and the Society for Science announced his win. Pai developed a software named Microby, which scans microorganism databases to find candidates for genetic modification to degrade plastics. His tests revealed two microorganisms that could be genetically altered to break down plastic at a cost he estimates to be ten times cheaper than traditional recycling methods.
Grace Sun, 16, from Lexington, Kentucky, won the top award, the George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award, which is valued at $75,000. This award is named after Regeneron’s co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer.
The winners were celebrated in two ceremonies: the Special Awards on May 16 and the Grand Awards Ceremony on May 17. In total, over $9 million was awarded to finalists for their creativity, innovation, and depth of scientific inquiry. The competition included nearly 2,000 young scientists from 49 U.S. states and nearly 70 countries, regions, and territories.
Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science, congratulated the winners and expressed her admiration for their ingenuity and determination. She noted that these students, coming from diverse backgrounds and academic disciplines, have demonstrated unity in addressing some of the world’s toughest challenges.
Among other top Indian American winners were Tanishka Balaji Aglave, 15, from Valrico, Florida, and Ria Kamat, 17, from Hackensack, New Jersey.
Aglave received the H. Robert Horvitz Prize for Fundamental Research, valued at $10,000, for her study on a natural alternative treatment for citrus greening, a disease threatening citrus farming worldwide. She found that injecting infected trees with an extract from the curry leaf tree could potentially manage the disease sustainably.
Kamat, a student at Bergen County Academies, won the Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award, which includes an all-expenses-paid trip to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. Her project examined the connection between osteoclastogenesis caused by tumors and osteoprotegerin.
Additionally, ten other Indian Americans were among the 450 finalists recognized for their innovative research. “First Award” winners, each receiving a $5,000 prize, included Ayush Garg from Dublin, California; Divij Motwani from Palo Alto, California; Akash Ashish Pai from Portland, Oregon (Biomedical Engineering); Akilan Sankaran from Albuquerque, New Mexico; Arjun Suresh Malpani and Siddharth Daniel D’costa from Portland, Oregon (Chemistry); Nikhil Vemuri from Durham, North Carolina (Earth and Environmental Sciences); Harini Thiagarajan and Vishal Ranganath Yalla from Bothell, Washington (Physics and Astronomy); and Anant Khandelwal, Sritan Motati, and Siddhant Sood from Alexandria, Virginia (Technology Enhances the Arts).
