Today was probably the most exciting day of Regeneron STS because we did so many things today! First, we woke up at the crack of dawn to go to the Capitol Building and take the historic photo that finalists from every year have taken. The building is gorgeous — not only is it enormous but the columns and historic architecture make it a beautiful sight to look at. I think they make us get up early because the morning lighting makes it look even more stunning. We also took a few other pictures with fewer people in it, including one of only the finalists from California.
Next, we got to attend meetings with our Congressional representatives. The California finalists and I were scheduled to meet Senator Adam Schiff. However, since he is a very busy man, we were told that we were going to meet one of his staffers and not the senator himself. The staffers are still super cool though, since they are the ones behind most of the decisions made in government. After a short walk to his office building, which looked surprisingly normal, and going through airport-like security, we entered Senator Schiff’s office. While we waited in the waiting room, an important looking guy came in, and he was important. He was in fact important — after he introduced himself, I learned that he was the Attorney General of Washington, DC! He also had a meeting with Senator Schiff. And just a few minutes later, to our surprise, Senator Schiff himself entered his office. He couldn’t talk to us for long because he was meeting with the Attorney General, but we got to have a bit of small talk with a senator and take a picture with him!
Soon after, we got to speak with one of his staffers. I asked a somewhat loaded question about when it is correct for a nation to wage war. It’s a topic I’m very interested in because in some cases it is necessary to fight other countries, but at the same time there is a ton of collateral damage and it is a waste of resources. I really liked her response. I think my main takeaway from it is that it’s always important to have an exit plan, otherwise you can have wars that don’t resolve for extremely long periods of time. My friend Elisa also asked her about AI and its role in the government, and when it can replace people. The staffer said that there are certain tasks that are fairly menial and can be easily replaced by AI, but the majority of decisions still have to be made by humans.
When our meeting was over, we headed to the Cannon House Office Building, which is where many people in the House of Representatives work. It was cool to walk by the offices of famous politicians on the way up to our Science Talent Search break room. I did not have any more appointments with politicians, although other finalists did, so I stayed in the room until about noon playing Crazy Eight (it’s basically Uno) on my phone with others who did not have appointments. Eventually, our time with the government ran out and we had to head back to the hotel to have a fireside chat with Regeneron’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. George Yancopoulos.
He started off by showing us a slideshow which was similar to what he talked about in the Zoom meeting when we were named top 300 scholars, but with much more detail. The main points he emphasized for being a good scientist were:
- Willingness to risk failure
- Identify “fundamental truths” that are exceedingly simple
- “Fundamental truths” can lead to “simple solutions”
- Identify the “limiting bottlenecks” to progress
- Challenge everything
He also talked about how fewer than 1 in 100 companies are able to develop an FDA approved medicine, but Regeneron has developed more than a dozen. After his presentation, we got to ask him questions. I think the most interesting things he said are that
- You don’t have to focus on one thing. If there are multiple directions for research that look interesting, look into all of them if possible
- Using a 50/50 model, where other companies can fund your own in exchange for 50% of the profits of a future drug, Regeneron has stayed around for longer than other companies that get swallowed up by Big Pharma
- Getting a PhD can make you narrowly skilled at one thing, but getting an MD helps you understand a lot of things at the surface level. Getting an MD and PhD is a great in-between
- In his opinion, math is easier than biology because the “fundamental truths” are more straightforward
After his time was over, we were supposed to go back to our rooms and change into our gala outfits, but a few other finalists and I stayed after everyone had left and asked him a few more questions, the answers of some of which are in the above list.
My gala outfit was pretty straightforward to change into because I had practiced at home. I also wasn’t wearing any makeup because I honestly don’t really know how to put it on. So after I finished, I visited Charlotte’s room and we hung out a bit before heading down to get prepared for the medaling ceremony. Since being named a finalist is extremely difficult (the top 40 out of ~2,500 applications is the top 1.6%), we are all winners and get a cool medal in honor of that. The medaling ceremony is a private event for only the parents and the finalists, so it was the first time that I had seen my parents in a week (besides Pubic Day when they came by for 30 seconds). After hanging out with my parents for a bit and meeting my friend’s parents, we had to head to the Awards Gala.
The gala was located in the National Building Museum, which is a huge and beautiful event space. We first participated in another poster session, but this time with a smaller poster that could fit on one board. After so much practice during judging and Public Day, it was easier to talk about my research. I spoke to a few people from Regeneron and a few alumni of the Science Talent Search. I thought meeting the alumni was interesting because I realized that was who I was going to be in 20-30 years. I also ate some of the delicious refreshments they were serving at the gala.
Finally, it was time for the program to begin. We went on the stage and got into our tight pose, which basically means that there is no gap between the two halves of finalists. This was more for show and for the picture on the website, because after we took the photo and a few announcements were made, we went to have dinner. I was fortunate to be sitting at the head table, which included Maya Ajmera, CEOs from various companies, Caltech President Dr. Thomas Rosenbaum, and the Regeneron STS Head Judge Dr. Jason Valentine. I started off by talking with Afton Vechery, founder of Modern Fertility, and Zach Perret, CEO of Plaid, about my research. Then I spent a fair bit of dinner talking with Dr. Rosenbaum about physics, which is the field he does research in. He predicted that nuclear fusion will be available in the next 15 years, although it probably won’t be commercially feasible for a long time. He also explained quantum entanglement in a really intuitive way and it finally made sense to me! Finally, I talked to Dr. Valentine a bit about judging and how I think it could be fun to be a judge 30 years from now.
Finally, it was time for the livestream of the awards ceremony to start. The emcee made a few opening remarks, then Maya, Dr. Rosenbaum, and George gave speeches, and it was finally time for us to go on the stage. When we went on the stage, a little video about us would play and talk about all of our accomplishments. It was surreal to look out into the crowd with the spotlight placed on us. I also enjoyed cheering for my fellow finalists as they joined us on the stage. It was suspenseful, however, because the top 10 were going to be announced within the next 20 minutes. After we had all gotten on the stage, Akilan, the Seaborg Speaker, gave a really funny three minute speech describing our week and what is means to be a finalist. He had showed me the speech yesterday, but somehow it had gotten even better in between. Then Dr. Valentine made a few remarks and there was the moment we were all waiting for: the announcement of the top 10 winners. And I got 5th!
Anyway, I don’t think that part is all that important. When I got back to the hotel and partied until 1 am with the other finalists, I knew that the real gift of finals week is not the money or the trophies, but the bonds forged with the other 39 amazing people. I had so much fun partying with everyone in fact, that I got a blister on my right foot and had to dance the rest of the night on one foot! We slightly overstayed our welcome in the party room and Allie eventually told us to go back to our rooms, but I was elated from all the excitement from the day and stayed up late writing this blog post. Tomorrow is the last day of Finals Week, which makes me really sad. Thankfully, I talked to the other West Coast finalists and we are hoping to have a meetup in the next few months!
