Nine students from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) have been named among the top 300 scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2026, a national science and math competition for high school seniors. The announcement was made by Society for Science.
The FCPS scholars include one student from Chantilly High School and eight from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. These students attended various middle schools such as Carson, Frost, Johnson, Kilmer, and Longfellow.
Each scholar will receive a $2,000 award. Their respective schools will also receive $2,000 per enrolled scholar.
The following are the 2026 Regeneron STS Scholars from FCPS:
– Anusha Agarwal, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: Multigrid-Inspired Neural Operators for Real-Time Brain Biomechanics Prediction With Spectrally-Aware Learning.
– Rushil Kukreja, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: Preparing for the Next Carrington: Spatiotemporal Agent-Based Modeling for Safeguarding Satellite Infrastructure Under Extreme Space Weather Disturbances.
– Madeline Levorson, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: Novel Antimicrobial Treatments Designed With Discovered Lytic Bacteriophages Evaluated Through a Rapid Screening Protocol and an In Vivo Galleria mellonella System.
– Caroline Li, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: Improving the Detection Sensitivity of Calcium Transients in Densely Labeled Neuronal Tissue Through Pinhole Illumination: A Low-Cost Approach.
– Nived Nandakumar, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: A Closed-Loop Deep Generative Model for the Inverse Design of Radiation-Resistant Polymers.
– Medha Pappula, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: Identifying Underlying Brain Connections in Pediatric ADHD: A Pathway to Early Diagnosis and Reduced Secondary Effects.
– Aashritha Penumudi, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: A Novel Approach to Understanding the Structural Basis of Ribosome Stalling by AMD1 and Cellular Arresting Peptides.
– Sam Tummala, Chantilly High School. Project Title: From Waste to Worth: Transforming Resistant Starches From Waste Rice Into a Single-Use Plastic Alternative and Controlled-Release Organic Fertilizer.
– Max Zhao, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Project Title: Improving Time-Series Flood Detection on Remote Sensing Satellite Imagery With Persistent Homology.
According to Society for Science, “Scholars were chosen based on their outstanding research, leadership skills, community involvement, commitment to academics, creativity in asking scientific questions and exceptional promise as STEM leaders demonstrated through the submission of their original, independent research projects, essays, and recommendations.”
This year’s group of scholars was selected from more than 2,600 applicants representing 826 high schools across 46 states plus Washington D.C., Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico as well as applicants from 16 other countries.
On January 21st forty finalists will be named out of these scholars; they will compete in Washington D.C., March 5–11th during a week-long event with over $1.8 million in awards available.
Society for Science notes that alumni of this program have received significant scholarships over time as well as major honors such as Nobel Prizes or MacArthur Fellowships.
