Forrest Chai from The McCallie School was among the 300 students Regeneron and Society for Science named as scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.
Mr. Chai's project title was Enhancing Drug-Drug Interaction Predictions: Novel Dual-Contrasting Framework and Self-Attention in Message-Passing Neural Networks.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars were selected from nearly 2,500 entrants from 795 high schools across 48 states, American Samoa, Guam, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and 14 other countries.
US citizens living abroad are eligible to apply.
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. The 300 scholars hail from 200 American and international high schools in 33 states, Washington D.C., China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Switzerland.
The full list of scholars can be viewed here: https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2025-scholars/.
“Congratulations to the 300 scholars in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO, Society for Science and Executive Publisher, Science News. “With a record-breaking number of applications, these exceptional young scientists and engineers represent the best in the nation. We are thrilled to celebrate their ingenuity, hard work, and passion for STEM.”
Each scholar, selected from nearly 2,500 entrants, receives a $2,000 award with an additional $2,000 going to their respective school, resulting in $1.2 million in total scholar awards from Regeneron. The 40 finalists chosen to compete in March will be announced on Jan. 23.
On Jan. 23 40 of the 300 scholars will be named Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists. The finalists will then compete for more than $1.8 million in awards during a week-long competition in Washington, D.C., taking place March 6-12.