International RESEARCH COLLABORATION (Jul 2023-Present)
As 1 of 10 students chosen for the AOS-Daegu Science High School selective global partnership program (8.33% admission rate), I collaborated with South Korean students to develop a machine learning model that forecasts the incidence of dengue outbreaks temporally and geographically by utilizing eco-climatic and socioeconomic factors, thus aiding public officials in implementing mitigation efforts. My research paper is currently undergoing peer review for the International Science and Education Research (ISER) journal, published by West Point Press, which is associated with the prestigious United States Military Academy.
Link to ISER Journal: https://iser.sisengr.org/index.php/iser
Additionally, I was 1 of 2 students invited to present my research poster at the 17th International Science Youth Forum (ISYF) in Singapore in January 2025. This prestigious event, organized by Hwa Chong Institution with support from the Ministry of Education, Singapore, aims to create a platform for budding science talents and educators to network with peers and interact with Nobel Laureates and eminent scientists.
Awards
- Awarded Honorable Mention by HHMI Janelia Research Campus at Loudoun County Public Schools Regional Science & Engineering Fair
- Scored second place at the Academies of Loudoun Symposium in Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Category
Conrad challenge (Aug 2021-Jan 2022)
The Conrad Challenge is a multi-phase, purpose-driven, innovation and entrepreneurship competition that motivates students to design the future with their impactful solutions to global issues. I was selected as a Conrad Innovator, where I targeted the issue of detecting pollen in real-time in direct vicinities by developing SMILEBand, a wearable allergen-tracking device the size of a smartwatch that measures the pollen concentration in a direct area and presents it to the user in an easy-to-read way.
Toshiba ExploraVision Competition (Oct 2021-Apr 2022)
The Toshiba Exploravision competition is a science competition that allows students to understand how to bring ideas into reality. The purpose of this competition is to develop a solution that cannot be invented at present due to the current technology in use, but is able to be developed in the future, for a vital issue. I developed the concept of Action VAXX, which was awarded the Honorable Mention title, to eliminate the obstacles of the current vaccine development process being inefficient, costly, and time-consuming. My solution is an AI and Deep Learning model, which uses an algorithm to evaluate the components of a virus to create a vaccine formula for any given virus.
eCYBERMISSION (jun 2018-2020)
eCYBERMISSION is a U.S. Army-sponsored online educational STEM competition, where students think about real-world applications of STEM to identify a problem in their community and develop a solution. Judges award teams a STEM-In-Action Grant of up to $5,000 based on the teams' proposed implementation plans, where they further develop their project into a scalable solution and implement their solution in their community. I was not only a National Finalist but was also awarded the STEM-in-Action grant for developing the app, ArboTrack, which targets the issue of mosquito-borne diseases. ArboTrack is a crowd-sourced, geolocation, and photo-based app that enhances the accuracy of reporting standing water, increases efficiency when reporting, and improves the speed of information transmission from physicians to local authorities. I was in fact a two-time consecutive national finalist (awarded $1000 educational scholarships), where in another year, we combatted the issue of the lack of access to clean drinking water and developed Hydropur, a simple, portable, eco-friendly, inexpensive water filter that uses natural filtration agents to help disaster-affected communities and developing countries.
Technology Student Association (Sep 2019-Mar 2020)
The Technology Student Association is a national organization that provides students the opportunity to explore a variety of topics in STEM by participating in activities or competitions. Under the Biotechnology category, I researched and modified two existing cell-based therapies, CCR5 Receptor Therapy and CAR T-Cell Therapy, to potentially cure HIV.