
The Regeneron Science Talent Search announced the 300 scholars of 2025 on Jan. 8. Senior Deling Chen found herself on the list.
Founded in 1942, Regeneron STS is a highly competitive science research competition for high school students and the oldest in the country offering students the opportunity to share their research on a national stage. The scholars were selected based on their “outstanding research, leadership skills, community involvement, commitment to academics, creativity in asking scientific questions and exceptional promise as STEM leaders,” the Regeneron STS site stated.
A visit to her grandmother over summer break inspired Chen’s research project that she carried out in the Advanced Science Research (ASR) class. Chen submitted her project for the scholarship and was selected as one of 300 Regeneron STS Scholars out of nearly 2,500 applicants.
“[My grandma] had developed dementia over COVID, but I didn’t realize how severe it could be. She couldn’t really talk, she couldn’t recognize my brother and me,” Chen said. “And so I thought, was there any way that we could have known that this could have been predicted?”
So, she set out to answer her own question. Chen created a model to predict dementia. With the help of a mentor through the U of M to access 5,000 anonymous people’s data, Chen used variables from electrocardiograms, which measure electrical signals of the heart. She found similar patterns between the variables she used and patterns correlated with dementia.
Chen credits some of her success to the ASR class, where she started her project: “In other science classes, you obviously go through the scientific process. But [in ASR] you get a lot more freedom in what you want to do. And I think there’s endless possibilities.”
All 300 Regeneron STS Scholars and their respective schools receive a prize of $2,000. Chen hopes the $2000 given to the school will go towards the funds for the ASR class. Chen plans to use her $2000 to pay for college expenses, application fees or other science conferences and fairs.
Applications for the Regeneron STS Scholarship open in early summer. Chen applied in the fall with the ASR project she created in junior year. Preoccupied with college applications and general school work, Chen almost passed on applying.
“I was like, ‘I don’t really know if I want to do this.’ But I had the project, I had the paper, and I might as well give it a shot,” Chen said. “It’s okay to take a chance, and sometimes, things will come when you don’t expect.”