Through publisher BOOM! Studios, writer Carly Usdin and artist Nina Vakueva bring you HEAVY VINYL: Y2K-O! their follow-up to Heavy Vinyl: Riot on The Radio. It’s the summer of 1999 and the crew of the record store, Vinyl Destination, is back for a new adventure. The tension over Y2K is soaring and the girl gang vigilantes must fight to save the Internet, save the world of music, and prevent the total collapse of modern society…all while balancing their personal lives.

Smart Girls had the opportunity to talk to writer and filmmaker Carly Usdin about the creation of Heavy Vinyl, her inspirations, and her love of comic books.

Smart Girls: How did you first meet and come to collaborate with artist Nina Vakueva?

Carly Usdin: The wonderful folks at BOOM! Studios initially introduced me to Nina and her work. I immediately thought her style was perfect for the book. It’s been a really wonderful experience getting to collaborate over the past few years.

SG: What and who were your creative inspirations? Did you have favorite comic books or graphic novels growing up?

CU: I was definitely a comic book nerd growing up. I was mostly into Batman and the X-Men, but I read just about anything I could get my hands on. I was also a big fan of comic strips like Snoopy and Calvin and Hobbes. My creative inspirations growing up were ’90s teen comedies, Christopher Guest films, shows like Buffy and the X-Files. I was (and still am) completely obsessed with Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

SG: What was the inspiration behind Heavy Vinyl?

CU: My biggest inspiration for Heavy Vinyl was the film Empire Records. It’s one of my all-time faves and was a hugely influential film for me when I was in high school. Other inspirations include The Baby-Sitters Club series and Sailor Moon.

SG: How did you come up with Y2K as a subject for the sequel?

CU: So Heavy Vinyl Vol. 1 ends at the end of 1998. I didn’t want to jump ahead too far, but I did want things to have a little room to breathe. So I thought back to my life and the big cultural events of 1999. Two massive things that happened that year were the introduction of digital music and file sharing via Napster, and the panic caused by Y2K. Y2K feels almost silly in retrospect, so I thought it would be fun to insert the Heavy Vinyl girls right into madness. This is the untold story of why nothing really happened on January 1, 2000.

SG: What are your thoughts about the growing prevalence of women in the comic book and graphic novel world and where do you think that will lead?

CU: Keep it coming! More women and more queer folks making things, especially comic books and graphic novels. There are limitless stories and points of view, so there should be no end in sight. I hope this continues and we get new stories and characters to fall in love with.

SG: What do you like about using comic books and graphic novels as a means for storytelling?

CU: I’m new-ish to creating comic books and graphic novels. I’m a filmmaker and while I love that world, there are lots of limitations due to budget and time. But writing comics has allowed me to keep my ideas limitless, and that has been so much fun. I’m so lucky I get to do this, I really never thought I would.

HEAVY VINYL: Y2K-O! will be available March 25, 2020 at local comic book shops, and March 31, 2020 at bookstores, or at the BOOM! Studios webstore.

Carly Usdin is the creator and writer of two comic book series for BOOM! Studios: The Avant-Guards and Heavy Vinyl, which was nominated for a 2018 Prism award, honoring the best in LGBTQAI+ comics. Carly is also a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her first feature, Suicide Kale, won the Audience Award for Best First Feature at Outfest 2016. In 2017, she served as showrunner and director for the scripted series Threads. Carly has spent years making short-form narrative and branded content as well as award-winning promo campaigns. She recently completed post-production on her short film Misdirection, created as part of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women (class of 2019), and is currently developing several projects through her production company, Scheme Machine Studios, which she owns with her wife, photographer and producer Robin Roemer.

HEAVY VINYL: Y2K-O! Your Favorite Girl Gang of Music-Loving Vigilantes is Back! was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Singer, songwriter, artist, poet, philosopher, actress, guitarist, pianist, harmonium player…and the list goes on. Born into a musically and artistically inclined family, Leena Culhane started playing the piano at the ripe old age of four, when she also wrote her first song. Inspired by a box of Broadway soundtrack CDs that was gifted to her by a neighbor, she continued composing songs, as well as taking classical piano lessons and learning to chart and write music. By the age of thirteen she was also playing guitar and, in her words,

“It just took off from there. I think I was always meant to do something creative. I loved writing, music, acting, dancing, moving…all things in the goulash of music.”

Leena spent her teens in San Francisco playing with local bands as a keyboardist and guitarist, which led to her opening for iconic musicians such as Bonnie Raitt. She then attended UCLA where she graduated with degrees in Theater and Comparative Literature…oh, and she also speaks Spanish and Finnish (her father’s family hails from Finland). In 2015, while on a tour to promote her EP The Reckoning, Leena found herself in Tennessee and fell in love with the familial vibe in Nashville. Since then, she’s spent the past five years appeasing her Libra side by dividing her time between Nashville and Los Angeles.

I was lucky enough to become friends with this uber-talented woman during one of her extended stints in L.A. and I’m delighted to have had the chance to sit down with her to discuss the inspiration behind her new single, her upcoming album, and her artistic process.

It awaits you here / It is strong and clear / There’s a love out in the wide from the wishing well / And you’ll hear the part / That you know by heart / It will call you by your name / It will ring the bell / It will ring the bell — Chorus

Emily Sandack: “Ring the Bell” is your new single that releases on Valentine’s Day. How did it come to life?

Leena Culhane: I wrote it after a particularly rough rejection sent me reeling. I sat down to remind myself that this is 1) not the end, and 2) there’s a good thing coming. I wrote most of it in one sitting without singing it first, which is strange for me. I just sat down and out came the verses, and then the chorus came quickly; it fell into my lap — it’s here, you don’t have to work for it, it’s a birthright. That usually happens with my favorite songs, that they make sense after they’re written. It’s a discovery to me, mysterious, some part of me speaking to another, and to whomever else needs to hear it. The song began as a response to what happened with someone else, but turned into what I needed to hear for myself. I love that about music: the thing I hear won’t be what everyone else hears or internalizes, so take what you want — it’s there for us all. It’s a little Valentine.

ES: Tell us more about your new album, Sleepwalker, which will be released the last week of March, 2020.

LC: The title is two-fold: it evokes a sort of dreaminess and an openness that I was exploring in my music, and it also references these unconscious spaces at which I was starting to look. Through my mid and later 20s, I started to experience what I can only describe as an adolescence in retrograde, where all the systems that had worked for me started to come apart, and I felt like, in turn, I was coming apart; not feeling like I could take care of everything and everyone in the ways I had before. It was very disorienting, not fun, heartbreaking. Part was psychological; looking at what’s really beneath the surface of how you present yourself. Sleepwalker is a multifaceted representation of that; I’m somebody who loves dreaming and being in the ethereal world, but the idea of being somnambulant and just making your way through, was no longer working for me.

I was lucky enough to work with producer Justin Glasco on this record. I’ve always produced or co-produced my own stuff, so it was really nice to let that chair belong to somebody else for this one. Sleepwalker is my 3rd full-length album, and 6th record — I’ve made three EPs and three LPs; four of which are available for streaming.

ES: What is your songwriting process? Do you start with lyrics, or melody, or does it vary?

LC: I always feel more connected to the music first. Usually I like to just sit and play and see what comes up. The music will generally inform the feeling that I tap into, and I’ll run down that river — I’ll think okay, where’s that showing up in my life and how do I want to sculpt it with words? Sometimes a lyric will come into my head and I’ll think, oh I have to write that down. I have a lot of random iPhone notes that I’ll look back on like “huh?!” Rarely does a song come all at once for me; it’s probably happened three times — ever — and then I know that those are songs that needed to be here, right now. Most of the time I sit, I play for a while, I write a verse and a chorus, and then it sits there for two weeks. I’m trying to become more disciplined about finishing songs and not making them perfect. That’s a really hard thing, not to edit as you go. But I find the best stuff comes when I’m not editing and I’m in that flow state where skill meets appropriate challenge. The challenge is to just be there, to try to live in that space as long as you can, and not feel too grippy about anything. It’s a life thing too — not to be too grippy. Working on it.

ES: Who were your musical inspirations growing up?

LC: I was listening to all the classics: Carol King, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, the Dead, Bonnie Raitt. I opened for Bonnie at Bimbo’s 365 in San Francisco. I also opened for her at the Sweetwater. She’s just the coolest. All those tunes hold up for me, “Tangled and Dark,” and I love Justin Vernon’s take on “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” I recently went on a deep dive of Bonnie’s anthology and was listening to songs she was singing when she was 25; her voice was always there, that tone, but it just developed and developed. Annie Lennox is another one—the Diva cassette I had as a child got lots of mileage. As a 14 year old I was really into Jason Mraz and saw him play a ton before his commercial success. I listened to Miles of Aisles, the Joni Mitchell live album, just endlessly. I love the banter you can hear in between. You can feel her comfort in her music.

ES: Who are you listening to now?

LC: Ethan Gruska is probably in my top 5 here in L.A., he’s made some gorgeous records for himself and others, and he plays piano like no one else. I love Asgeir, Laura Marling, Khruangbin, Bon Iver. I also listen heaps to my friend Jamie Doe, who goes by the moniker The Magic Lantern; he’s a champion of mine and I’m a champion of his. And of course, all my friends in Nashville!

ES: What advice would you give to your 12-year-old self?

LC: You’re not weird, you’re just you, and this is all going to reveal itself as your specific voice in this world. I always thought I was really strange when I was little; an outsider who was always friendly, so kindness became the benchmark. I spent so much time alone (which I still cultivate) thinking about what I wanted to say, and express, and how I wanted to do it; I think that lent itself to thinking, oh, I’m kind of odd. But that, ultimately, is what helped me find myself and find my way into what I do now, which is almost entirely grounded in creativity.

There’s a young gal I drive to school [coincidentally a 12 year old], and we were listening to the radio in the car the other day. Some morning-show DJs were talking about the “weird” things they do, and opening it up to hear from callers “because we know that you’re not perfect either.” I turned it off and we had this extensive conversation about society correlating “weirdness” with “imperfection.” We need to separate these things. I’m happy she agrees at her young age, and I’m excited to see what comes from all the unique things we bring to the table…of course 1) nobody’s perfect, and 2) your weirdness is what makes you SO COOL!

Download “Ring the Bell” on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Google Play, and Deezer today!

Check out Leena’s website for more about upcoming shows and tours, her soon to be released album Sleepwalker, and more. Connect with Leena on Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud, and Facebook.

Musician Leena Culhane and Her Lyrical New Single “Ring the Bell” was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Anjali Chadha from Louisville, KY, and student at duPont Manual Magnet High School, is one of the top 40 finalists of the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) 2019 and the recipient of a $25,000 prize. For her project, Anjali developed a portable, affordable, and easy-to-use sensor to detect arsenic in drinking water from underground sources that may be contaminated by this known carcinogen.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), a program of the Society for Science & the Public, is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. Each year approximately 2,000 students enter Regeneron STS, submitting original research in critically important scientific fields of study in competition for more than $3.1 million in awards, and in 2019, nearly half of the high school students competing were female scientists.

Smart Girls’ Heather Mason interviewed Anjali about her project and her hopes for the future.

Heather Mason: When did you first become interested in science and what do you like about it?

Anjali Chadha: I first became interested in science when I started learning how to read before elementary school. Some of the first real books I read were scientific, factual books about the solar system, the human body, and earth. I really enjoyed learning cool pieces of information that gave context to where we come from and where we are going.

As I have grown older, my favorite aspect of science has become its involvement with creativity. Scientific discoveries and innovations come from a combination of intellectual curiosity and creative problem-solving approaches. There is a lot of freedom in science that stems from exploration. Research specifically is exciting to me because it includes both autonomous, independent decision-making, as well as collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to problems.

HM: What inspired the idea for your project and what kind of impact could it make on the world?

AC: I began to work on my research project after learning about the severe arsenic contamination in my home state of Kentucky in 2016. A “state of emergency” was declared by the Cabinet of Energy and the Environment, and I was shocked that I had never heard about the problem previously in the United States. After talking with some governmental officials and research organizations, I had a clear idea of the gaps that exist today with commercial technologies and arsenic-sensing methods. I wanted to come up with an easy-to-use, up-to-date, and cost-effective solution.

This is why I built a fully automated, 3D-printed, IoT-based sensor that detects concentrations of arsenic in drinking water sources. Today, 1 in 6 Americans are potentially at risk for arsenic exposure because they obtain their daily drinking water from sources that are unmonitored by the EPA. In the developing world, many communities use severely polluted water sources and are completely unaware of this fact. My hope for this sensor is that it may be deployed in developing communities to provide citizens with basic public knowledge concerning their own safety.

The device can also ideally help research organizations and governmental bodies accumulate and analyze mass amounts of data. The sensor is easily portable, and the data that is collected is instantaneously transmitted to a cloud-based repository. This means that it can be accessed at anytime from anywhere. We can gain information about communities halfway across the world, and see how levels have changed, as well as compare different regions.

HM: What has been the most challenging part of working on your project and how did you overcome those difficulties?

AC: Before I began this project, I had no experience with engineering. Building my sensor involved electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, programming, and chemistry. This meant that my project involved a lot of “learning by doing”; I learned how to use different tools and technologies as I went along. I overcame some of these challenges by working at a hackerspace, which is a community-based shared space where different individuals work on independent projects and share tools and resources. At the hackerspace, I was able to ask questions to computer science experts and career mechanical engineers who could always help me troubleshoot or make choices when I got stuck.

HM: How will what you learned during the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search experience impact your future?

AC: At STS, I learned that good science is not just about having a lot of knowledge, it is about being able to synthesize it and apply it at the right times. Science is about tackling new problems that one may be unfamiliar with, but that can always be traced back to the basics. I learned that the fundamental principles of science can help to explain and predict very complex problems.

HM: What’s next for you and your project?

AC: I plan to attend college next year, but I have not yet decided where. I am really interested in studying biotechnology or biomedical engineering. I hope to continue to refine my project and actually turn it into a multi-purpose, heavy metal detection platform where the same device could be used to detect a wide array of pollutants, including lead and mercury. Hopefully one day my sensor will be distributed to parts of the world that truly need it.

HM: Anything else you’d like to mention?

AC: I want to acknowledge the numerous people who have supported me along the way, both with this project as well as with me as a student. First and foremost, my parents have provided an incredible level of encouragement and exposure to new opportunities my whole life, always opening doors and challenging me to try new things. My wonderful teachers at school and my regional science fair director, Mr. Skip Zwanzig, have been instrumental to my learning. My project mentors, Mr. Nathan Armentrout and Mr. John Simpson, really helped me get started with building the sensor and learning the fundamentals of engineering fields. Finally, I want to thank the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) for their support in many projects over the last year, including at Regeneron STS.

Society for Science & the Public is a champion for science, dedicated to expanding scientific literacy, effective STEM education, and scientific research. Now sponsored by Regeneron, it launched the first of its prestigious education competitions, the Science Talent Search (STS), in 1942, identifying the nation’s most promising young scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and innovators.

Stay tuned here for the STS 2020 Top 300 Scholars announcement on January 8, and the Top 40 Finalists announcement on January 22!

Anjali Chadha: Top 40 Finalist of the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019 was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), a program of Society for Science & the Public, is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. Zoe Weiss, from Atlanta, GA, and a student at Lakeside High School, earned one of the top 40 spots and a prize of $25,000. Each year approximately 2,000 students enter Regeneron STS, submitting original research in critically important scientific fields of study to nationally recognized professional scientists, in competition for more than $3.1 million in awards. In 2019, nearly half of the high school students competing were female scientists.

For her project, Zoe created an algorithm designed to overcome the limitations of current methodology for detecting rare cell types in single-cell gene expression data; an advance that could aid early disease diagnosis. Zoe also founded a nonprofit called Urban Science Summit, through which she has taught more than 2,000 students to design, program, and build autonomous robots.

Smart Girls’ Heather Mason interviewed Zoe about her project and her plans for the future.

Heather Mason: When did you first become interested in science and what do you like about it?

Zoe Weiss: “Keep innovating, fearlessly and forever”—from my mom, written as an inscription in a kids’ picture book she gave me called What Do You Do With an Idea? [by Kobi Yamada]. I grew up in a household that encouraged creative thinking and asking questions that no one — not even my parents — knew the answers to. The feeling of being the first person to figure out the answer to a question about how/why the world is what it is, was similar to an adrenaline rush.

HM: What inspired the idea for your project and what kind of impact could it make on the world?

ZW: From 200 to 201—that’s the number of known cell types (approximately) before my research, and putatively the number after my research. Why is this important? Because cells are the building blocks of life. Cell populations are heterogeneous. By studying cells at the individual level, it becomes possible to detect rare cell types, which then allows early disease diagnosis (e.g. cancer), identification of new cell types, and new insights into cell differentiation. Having such detailed knowledge of all cell types and their functions could result in a significantly better understanding of how best to maintain health and how to treat diseases most effectively.

HM: What has been the most challenging part of working on your project and how did you overcome those difficulties?

ZW: It turns out that they do not teach us how to change the world in high school. It takes a lot of persistence, self-motivation, and extracurricular ingenuity to start making a dent.

HM: How will what you learned during the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search experience impact your future?

ZW: The hardest challenges in our society will require multidisciplinary teams to solve. The depth and breadth of scientists that I met at the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search created a network of specialists for me to work with for the rest of my life. Watch out Cancer, because we are a force to be contended with!

HM: What’s next for you and your project?

ZW: I hope to obtain an MD-PhD and become a quantitative medical scientist specializing in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, especially of the poor. More specifically, I hope to conduct research to develop vaccines and drugs, and perform clinical trials of the most promising ones in humans. The clinical aspect of an MD would provide motivation and keep my research grounded by treating patients and improving their lives; and the PhD would train me to create scientific advances to solve these problems.

Society for Science & the Public is a champion for science, dedicated to expanding scientific literacy, effective STEM education, and scientific research. Now sponsored by Regeneron, it launched the first of its prestigious education competitions, the Science Talent Search (STS), in 1942, identifying the nation’s most promising young scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and innovators.

Stay tuned here for the STS 2020 Top 300 Scholars announcement on January 8, and the Top 40 Finalists announcement on January 22!

Zoe Weiss: Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019 Top 40 Finalist was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Gabrielle Liu, also known as Kaili, used artificial intelligence to develop a new way to reduce the rate of catastrophic forgetting by computerized neural networks. Her project earned her a prize of $25,000 and a spot as a top 40 finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), a program of the Society for Science & the Public. Each year approximately 2,000 students enter Regeneron STS—the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors—submitting original research in critically important scientific fields of study to nationally recognized professional scientists, in competition for more than $3.1 million in awards. In 2019, nearly half of the high school students competing were female scientists.

Gabrielle, of Brentwood, TN, and Ravenwood High School, is interested in social robotics and emotional artificial intelligence; she built a social robot named Argo that can recognize facial expressions. Smart Girls’ Heather Mason interviewed her to find out more about her award-winning project and her plans to improve the world.

Heather Mason: When did you first become interested in science and what do you like about it?

Gabrielle Liu: Ever since I was four years old, I have been fascinated by science!

I vividly recall the day in third grade when my passion for mathematics was ignited. I had just participated in a math league competition for the first time and discovered that I had a talent for it. I was hooked! In middle school, I happily discovered a whole new side of math — proof-based mathematics — and began to appreciate the elegance of mathematics. Discovering patterns in number theory and successfully crafting proofs became ways for me to be creative and have fun, and I began to think of mathematical discovery as a treasure hunt.

Simultaneously, in elementary school I got started in computer science after learning to program. I was eager to learn more and enjoyed applying what I had learned at local hackathons. More recently, I have grown passionate about finding ways to interweave mathematics with computer science in my explorations.

But science fairs were my first true step into the amazing world of scientific inquiry. They have given me the chance to test my interests — to discover my passions. They have also brought me into a community of like-minded peers with whom I have been able to build relationships that will last a lifetime. Perhaps most importantly, science fairs are a lot of fun!

I believe science gives me superpowers, and I want to apply these powers to improve my community and the world.

HM: What inspired the idea for your project and what kind of impact could it make on the world?

GL: My project was in the field of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI) is really exciting because it’s transforming our lives through innovations like self-driving cars, image-based cancer detection, and AI personal assistants like the Amazon Echo. Current implementations of AI are based on artificial neural networks, which are simple computerized models of the human brain that can learn to perform specific tasks, such as recognizing human faces in images.

Neural networks open the door to artificial general intelligence (AGI), which gives computers the ability to learn like a human. However, there are several obstacles to achieving this. One of the most significant is catastrophic forgetting. Since AGI has the great potential to improve lives around the world and democratize AI, I wanted to find a way to allow neural networks to learn like humans.

Humans are able to learn continuously — from the time we’re born, we learn to crawl, then learn to stand, then to walk, run, and do other activities. However, at present, neural networks are unable to do this because of catastrophic forgetting. This is like a forgetful student who attends physics class and then French class, but then forgets everything about the physics class. Because of this limitation, we are currently unable to move toward AGI.

My project draws from principles in neurology and physics to propose a concept called “weight friction,” which allows neural networks to overcome catastrophic forgetting and remember previously learned tasks. With weight friction, neural networks are able to learn continually. In doing so, we’re able to take a step toward realizing the benefits of AGI.

HM: What has been the most challenging part of working on your project and how did you overcome those difficulties?

GL: Developing the concept of weight friction was the major milestone in my work. I knew I wanted to find a way to give neural networks human-like learning abilities, but I did not have a clear idea of how to approach this problem. I began thinking about concepts I learned in school that might apply to my goal — specifically the concept of friction in physics. In physics, we learn that the frictional resistance experienced by an object sliding along a plane is proportional to the object’s mass. A similar relationship exists in neurology with the behavior of dendritic spines (small protrusions covering the surface of a neuron). When humans learn, dendritic spines become enlarged. While small spines are transient and easily erased, enlarged spines are persistent and aid in memory retention. The resistance of a spine to erasure is thus proportional to its volume. I applied these two relationships to develop weight friction as a way to help neural networks overcome catastrophic forgetting.

HM: How will what you learned during the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search experience impact your future?

GL: Throughout the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, my experiences have reaffirmed my belief in the power of science and technology to change each person’s life in the most amazing ways.

Over the course of the finals week, I had the opportunity to meet, talk to, and learn from well-known researchers, industry leaders, and Nobel Laureates. I was able to build lasting relationships with some of the brightest young scientists in the nation, each of whom is inspiring, passionate, welcoming, interesting, and extraordinarily talented. And I witnessed the great impact STEM can have on every individual, including their community at home and in the world at large.

These experiences are what encouraged me to inspire others to join our global STEM family. They motivate me to continue striving for greater innovation as a means to overcome key community issues and societal problems. And they have established a foundation upon which the other finalists and I will continue to advocate for increased and sustained funding for programs like Regeneron STS and Intel ISEF, in order to support the next generation of scientists and provide a platform for them to change the world.

Our time at the 2019 Regeneron STS Finals taught us lessons that will last a lifetime. I am incredibly honored to have had the privilege and opportunity of being a Regeneron STS finalist, and I will most definitely pay it forward in the future.

HM: What’s next for you and your project?

GL: I have submitted my work for publication and am excited to continue investigating the ways in which my weight friction method can aid neural networks in achieving human-like learning, in college at MIT. I hope to continue exploring innovations in AI throughout college in order to help us achieve AGI and democratize artificial intelligence.

Society for Science & the Public is a champion for science, dedicated to expanding scientific literacy, effective STEM education, and scientific research, and identifying the nation’s most promising young scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and innovators. Now sponsored by Regeneron, it launched the first of its prestigious education competitions, the Science Talent Search (STS), in 1942.

Stay tuned here for the STS 2020 Top 300 Scholars announcement on January 8, and the Top 40 Finalists announcement on January 22!

Gabrielle Liu: Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019 Top 40 Finalist was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), a program of the Society for Science & the Public, is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors, identifying the nation’s most promising young scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and innovators since 1942. In 2019, nearly half of the high school students competing in the Regeneron STS were female scientists, and Grace Cai of Silver Spring, MD, and Montgomery Blair High School, earned a $25,000 prize as one of the top finalists.

For her project, Grace studied algorithms guiding swarming robots, each of which must perform individually, yet together, in ways that are similar to the flocking behavior and formations of birds in flight. Her algorithm improves the ability of the swarm to decide between speed and accuracy in urgent situations.

Smart Girls’ Heather Mason talked to Grace about her work with swarm algorithms and her vision for future projects.

Heather Mason: When did you first become interested in science and what do you like about it?

Grace Cai: I have been curious about the world since I was very young. I like creating new ideas and learning new concepts; I tried to invent edible lipstick as a child by melting down colored candies, and being in the DC area, I visited the Natural History and Air and Space museums quite frequently. Specifically, my favorite field by far is computer science and algorithmic design. I like algorithms because they are “a way to get something done” and are a natural extension of human thought. We create and refine algorithms every day (for example, sorting the laundry or making a sandwich); computer science just puts those ideas into technology and finds ways to make those methods extremely clever and efficient.

HM: What inspired the idea for your project and what kind of impact could it make on the world?

GC: I was reading papers on swarm algorithms when I came across the discrete site selection problem, which asks a swarm to select the best among several sites in space. The paper reported its results for the accuracy and decision time of four different models, but I wondered what the significance of this data was. Was it better to be more accurate but take a long time, or less accurate but be really fast? I realized the answer to this question depended on the urgency of the situation, which prompted me to develop a new algorithm to solve the site selection problem, but was capable of trading off between time and accuracy. Swarms are still in very early stages of development, but when they are implemented for military search and rescue missions in the future, my algorithm could help them complete their jobs effectively by allowing them to avoid risk by trading off accuracy when necessary. This will allow swarms to replace human operatives who would have risked their lives in dangerous tasks.

HM: What has been the most challenging part of working on your project and how did you overcome those difficulties?

GC: The most challenging part of my project was coming up with my algorithm. Swarming algorithms are complicated because unlike classical algorithms, which often run on one machine to produce a result, a swarm algorithm interacts with hundreds or thousands of instances of itself. I had to keep track of not only the individual’s behavior, but their local interactions and how those interactions affected the group as a whole. To overcome these challenges I wrote a simulator of swarm behavior where I could test different algorithms.

HM: How will what you learned during the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search experience impact your future?

GC: Through talking to other STS finalists, I learned a lot about fields of science other than computer science. In the future, I’d like to explore chemistry and biology, which could supplement my problem-solving skills and are interesting areas that algorithms could be applied to. I also had practice explaining my work to people from all walks of life. Meeting STS alumni who have completed groundbreaking research as professors, or lead major industries, also inspired me to dream big and see that it is possible for my work to make a difference in people’s lives.

HM: What’s next for you and your project?

GC: I plan on continuing my research this summer by testing my algorithm on real swarms instead of simulation. Next year, I will be a freshman at MIT majoring in Course 6 (computer science). In college, I plan to continue algorithmic research — though not necessarily in swarm algorithms. I’d like to explore other fields that novel algorithms could be applied to, such as computational biology or computer vision.

Society for Science & the Public is a champion for science, dedicated to expanding scientific literacy, effective STEM education, and scientific research. Now sponsored by Regeneron, it launched the first of its prestigious education competitions, the Science Talent Search (STS), in 1942. Each year approximately 2,000 students enter the Regeneron STS, submitting original research in critically important scientific fields of study to nationally recognized professional scientists, in competition for more than $3.1 million in awards.

Stay tuned here for the STS 2020 Top 300 Scholars announcement on January 8, and the Top 40 Finalists announcement on January 22!

Grace Cai: Top 40 Finalist of the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019 was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Rachel Bergey, 14, of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, won the $10,000 Lemelson Award for Invention, awarded by The Lemelson Foundation to a young inventor creating promising solutions to real-world problems. Smart Girls interviewed Rachel about her fantastic project “Spotted Lanternflies: Stick’em or Trick’em?” to discover how she developed a trap made of tinfoil and netting for the Spotted Lanternfly, an invasive species causing damage to trees in Pennsylvania.

The Broadcom MASTERS, (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering as Rising Stars), a program of the Society for Science & the Public, is the nation’s premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. Based on projects that they presented at their state or regional science fair, along with their knowledge of STEM subjects and their demonstration of 21st Century skills, including critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaborative skills, and team work, 30 finalists (18 girls and 12 boys) were selected from 2,348 applicants in 47 states. The finalists took home more than $100,000 in awards and each finalist’s school receives $1,000 from the Broadcom MASTERS to benefit their science program.

Smart Girls: So you were climbing a tree when you noticed the lanternflies; how did you then realize that they were environmental and economical problems that you could help solve?

Rachel Bergey: One day when I was climbing one of our maple trees on my family’s farm, I noticed that it was covered with these grayish-black moths. At first, I didn’t think much about them other than they were hogging the tree I liked to climb. But when I was at a local park, I saw a sign that was posted, warning people about the Spotted Lanternfly. I told my family about it and we all knew we wanted to try and save our trees but we weren’t sure how to fully go about doing that. After learning that there really weren’t many options to combat these invasive insects, I decided to see if I could find a better way. At the time, I didn’t know whether I would be able to design a more efficient way to catch Spotted Lanternflies, but I knew it was definitely worth a shot.

SG: Were there other types of traps or methods that you tried before landing on your winning design? What was the trial process like?

RB: There were many trials and errors before finding the end result. Since two of the traps I tested were “homemade,” there were many fails before I finally designed what I was looking for. Looking back, it was a really cool experience because it truly taught me how to look past the failures and learn from them.

SG: As a lover of fishing and the outdoors, are there other problems you’d like to tackle that affect nature and the environment?

RB: Since the Spotted Lanternfly is still in my area, that is my biggest focus. My hope is to help my community. As my Mom says, “One step at a time.”

Founded in April 2009, the Broadcom Foundation is a nonprofit corporation with the mission to advance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education by funding research, recognizing scholarship, and increasing opportunity with their signature programs: the Broadcom MASTERS® and the Broadcom MASTERS® International. Established in 1921, the Society for Science & the Public is dedicated to the achievement of young scientists in independent research and to public engagement in science. You can keep up with the Broadcom Foundation and the Society on Twitter, the Society on Instagram, and the Broadcom MASTERS and Society on Facebook.

Rachel Bergey Wins the 2019 National Broadcom MASTERS® Award for Invention was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Alexis MacAvoy, 14, of Hillsborough, California and Crocker Middle School, won the $10,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement, which recognizes the student whose work and performance shows the most promise in health-related fields and demonstrates an understanding of the many social factors that affect health. Alexis designed a water filter using carbon to remove heavy metals from water.

The Broadcom MASTERS, (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering as Rising Stars), a program of the Society for Science & the Public, is the nation’s premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. Thirty finalists (18 girls and 12 boys) were selected from 2,348 applicants in 47 states, based on projects that they presented at their state or regional science fair, along with their knowledge of STEM subjects and their demonstration of 21st Century skills, including critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaborative skills, and team work. The finalists took home more than $100,000 in awards and each finalist’s school receives $1,000 from the Broadcom MASTERS to benefit their science program.

Smart Girls interviewed Alexis about her amazing project, “Designing Efficient, Low-Cost, Eco-Friendly Activated Carbon for Removal of Heavy Metals From Water.”

Smart Girls: How did you first become aware of the water problem and what motivated you to help solve it?

Alexis MacAvoy: In seventh grade, our class learned about the bioaccumulation of mercury in San Francisco marine life. This interest was heightened when I was rowing in the San Francisco Bay, and I noticed dredging machines. I learned that dredging releases mercury stored in the sediment into the water above, and that’s how I got interested in the accessibility of industrial wastewater filtration.

SG: How did you go about picking the plant-based materials you used in your testing, and for that matter, how did you learn how to do the testing in the first place?

AM: I chose the biowaste materials based off their lignin and cellulose content, which are different lignocellulosic fibers in biomass. Lignin has high carbon content and increases the microporous structure while cellulose helps sustain a stable mesoporous structure. Porosity and surface area are extremely important for the efficiency of activated carbon.

I tried three different spectrophotometric assays for testing, the copper-ammonium-cuprizone assay being the most successful. I used scientific journals and other online resources to learn important methodology that I needed to utilize for my tests. Trial and error taught me a few things pretty quickly as well. For instance, I consulted an article to learn how to pack burettes better, after I accidentally jammed a massive wad of cotton in a burette and spent half an hour trying to get it out.

SG: What are some other issues that you would like to tackle in the future using your biochemistry skills?

AM: I plan on continuing my project this year, but I would also like to explore a new area that I could build on for the rest of high school. I have a lot of wet lab experience after working in my homemade garage-turned-wet-lab for over a year, so definitely something that I could get my hands dirty with. I’m very interested in exploring ways we can preserve our ecosystems and fight back against climate change, so there are a lot of different areas I have to choose from. I was intrigued for a couple of months by the idea of somehow turning carbon dioxide into a non-greenhouse gas, but without a lab, any ideas that involved gasses quickly died. Maybe if I am able to work in a laboratory during the summer I will be able to explore those ideas!

Founded in April 2009, the Broadcom Foundation is a nonprofit corporation with the mission to advance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education by funding research, recognizing scholarship, and increasing opportunity with their signature programs: the Broadcom MASTERS® and the Broadcom MASTERS® International. Established in 1921, the Society for Science & the Public is dedicated to the achievement of young scientists in independent research and to public engagement in science. You can keep up with the Broadcom Foundation and the Society on Twitter, the Society on Instagram, and the Broadcom MASTERS and Society on Facebook.

Alexis MacAvoy Wins Award for Health Advancement in the 2019 National Broadcom MASTERS® Competition was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With her project “Ozone Depletion: How It Affects Us,” Lauren Ejiaga, 14, of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Lake Forest Charter, won the $10,000 STEM Talent Award, sponsored by DoD STEM, for demonstrating excellence in science, technology, engineering or math, along with the leadership and technical skills necessary to excel in the 21st century STEM workforce and build a better community for tomorrow. Lauren’s research focused on how current levels of ultraviolet light from the sun due to ozone depletion, impacts plant growth and performance, and Smart Girls got the chance to interview her about her amazing project.

The Broadcom MASTERS, (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering as Rising Stars), a program of the Society for Science & the Public, is the nation’s premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. Based on projects that they presented at their state or regional science fair, along with their knowledge of STEM subjects and their demonstration of 21st Century skills, including critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaborative skills, and team work, 30 finalists (18 girls and 12 boys) were selected from 2,348 applicants in 47 states. The finalists took home more than $100,000 in awards and each finalist’s school receives $1,000 from the Broadcom MASTERS to benefit their science program.

Smart Girls: Was there a particular thing or event that started you thinking about the effects of UV radiation on plants? And out of curiosity, why did you use pansies for your experiment?

Lauren Ejiaga: Yes and no. Picking a topic has always been a challenge, as there are more environmental problems out there than I can count. This is where the “process of elimination” came in. What did I already know, and what did I want to know more of? So there it was. It quite literally just came to me. Ozone depletion. That’s it. I’ve heard of it countless times and I knew what the ozone layer was, but I didn’t know too much about its current state. From there, of course, was the planning of how I was going to test it; but it was set in stone that I wanted to know not just how it affects plants, but about biodiversity as a whole. It sounds so dramatic, but trust the process.

And why were pansies chosen? I wanted this project to be more of an observational study, where I could physically see the results as they happen, to not just determine them by a measuring instrument (although those are significant). So I used what I researched to figure this out: Which plant will allow me to observe the sun’s effects on both its foliage and vitality? An angiosperm, but more specifically, flowers. But the flower must be high light foliage, meaning it thrives in direct or strong sunlight for most of the day. Pansies weren’t the only option, but they are foliage plants that are relatively easy to grow, with readily observable flowers.

SG: What are your plans to continue your research and try to help combat climate change?

LE: If I continue this research project, I won’t stray away from the environmental aspect of it, but rather build upon it, to study the effects of ozone depletion on marine life. Marine ecology is another interest of mine, so I’d resume my scientific study of marine-life habitats, populations, and interactions among organisms and their surrounding environments, including their abiotic and biotic factors. Phytoplankton and zooplankton — microscopic marine organisms that play crucial roles in complex ecological food webs — are sensitive to UV radiation. Because UVB radiation is absorbed by only a few layers of cells, large organisms are more protected; while smaller ones, such as unicellular organisms in aquatic ecosystems, are among the most severely affected by UV radiation. Therefore, similar to how UVB altered the ultrastructure in plants, it would be more than interesting to see that effect on marine life.

Every innovation starts with an idea, so if we can understand exactly what it is that depletes our ozone layer, other than chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and utilize the information presented through the experimentation of ozone depletion on biodiversity, then that knowledge can be taken further.

SG: I read that you are interested in becoming an anesthesiologist. What interests you about that career path?

LE: You can be anything in the medical field, and as indecisive as I am, I was left with many options. This caused chaos. Originally, I wanted to be an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN), then it changed to a neurosurgeon. It stayed there for a while until I decided that I wanted to study cosmology, or potentially be an astronaut, but that spark died quickly. Now my interest is here. I believe that anesthesiology is a unique field within medicine. It is, at the same time, incredibly cerebral and extremely physical. Also, I hate pain. Pain hurts. I wondered why it is that humans feel pain, why humans can feel anything at all, and anesthesiologists take that potential pain away during surgery — the key reason as to why I chose this field.

Founded in April 2009, the Broadcom Foundation is a nonprofit corporation with the mission to advance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education by funding research, recognizing scholarship, and increasing opportunity with their signature programs: the Broadcom MASTERS® and the Broadcom MASTERS® International. Established in 1921, the Society for Science & the Public is dedicated to the achievement of young scientists in independent research and to public engagement in science. You can keep up with the Broadcom Foundation and the Society on Twitter, the Society on Instagram, and the Broadcom MASTERS and Society on Facebook.

Lauren Ejiaga Captures the STEM Talent Award at the 2019 National Broadcom MASTERS® Competition was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Broadcom MASTERS, (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering as Rising Stars), a program of the Society for Science & the Public, is the nation’s premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. Thirty finalists (18 girls and 12 boys) were selected from 2,348 applicants in 47 states, based on projects that they presented at their state or regional science fair, along with their knowledge of STEM subjects and their demonstration of 21st Century skills, including critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaborative skills, and team work. The finalists took home more than $100,000 in awards and each finalist’s school receives $1,000 from the Broadcom MASTERS to benefit their science program.

Sidor Clare, 14, of Sandy, Utah, and the Beehive Science & Technology Academy, won the $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation, an honor made possible by Samueli’s generous donation of his 2012 Marconi Society Prize Award.

In addition to the top prizes, the Broadcom Foundation and the Society also announced first and second place winners in each of the STEM categories of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Kassie Holt, 14, also from Sandy, UT, and the Beehive Science & Technology Academy, won the STEM First Place Technology Award.

Partners in the project “Bound and Bricked,” Sidor and Kassie developed bricks that could one day be made on Mars, eliminating the requirement for humans to bring building materials with them in order to build there. Smart Girls interviewed the girls about their amazing work.

Smart Girls: Sidor and Kassie, how did you first learn about, and come to study, the Mars Global Simulant MGS-1 and the binder types that you experimented with?

Sidor Clare: This was a partner project. My partner, Kassie, was the one who found out about MGS-1. Once we decided to make bricks with MGS-1, we researched strong binders and binding materials that astronauts would have easy access to. Through our research we found out that polystyrene (Styrofoam) and HDPE (high density polyethylene) were both fairly strong binders that will already be in the astronauts’ food bags (HDPE) and insulation (polystyrene). We also found that polyester resin is an extremely strong binder, although we would have to ship it to Mars with the astronauts.

Kassie Holt: While researching the composition of Mars soil for my robotics team, I found out that the University of Florida sold a NASA-approved Mars soil simulant. Sidor and I contacted them and they ended up donating some to use for our project. We researched different binders that were commonly used here on Earth, as well as materials that astronauts will already have with them aboard the spacecraft, for example, HDPE (plastic) and polystyrene (Styrofoam).

SG: Sidor, where did the idea for your project come from? Did you already have an interest in the idea of potential future habitation on Mars?

SC: We knew we wanted our project to involve space. Kassie and I found out that astronauts didn’t have backup materials. Exploring Mars in and of itself is dangerous and it would take a lot of time and money to send backup materials to Mars. We wanted to provide astronauts with a backup shelter in case their mission didn’t go as expected. So, we decided to build bricks out of MGS-1 and a binder that astronauts would have access to. Once we decided to use MGS-1 our project really took off.

Before working on this project, I thought that inhabiting Mars was interesting, but I didn’t really have any connection to it. After I started working on this project, the concept of habitation on Mars became a lot more realistic and interesting. I’m so glad that this project was such a success and I’m extremely grateful to everyone who helped me along the way.

SG: And you Kassie?

KH: The theme for my robotics team last year was long-term space exploration. This got Sidor and I thinking about how astronauts would need strong materials, but that the cost of bringing materials to Mars would be expensive. We discussed how astronauts need a solution, especially a backup, for creating strong supplies, specifically bricks. Unfortunately, we could not find very good information about binders or, more specifically, how strong binders would be in combination with Mars soil.

I was interested in space like any other kid — I mean I love Star Wars. I thought going to Mars was a cool idea, but I didn’t really get why we were going to live there if we couldn’t breathe in the atmosphere. Now, I am much more interested in Mars and maybe I’ll even be one of the first to go there.

SG: Sidor I read that you love rock climbing. Do you think that has had any connection to your desire to study and create such solid building bricks?

SC: My love of rock climbing has nothing to do with the inspiration for my project. I hadn’t even connected the two ideas until you mentioned it. Right now, science fair and rock climbing seem like separate parts of my life, but that doesn’t mean they won’t intersect in the future.

I have many interests and I’m a very curious person. Science fair is a great way for me to investigate things that interest me. Speaking of which, I’ve recently become very interested in health and nutrition. I am pursuing that interest through my science fair project and hope to continue participating in science fairs throughout my high school years.

SG: Kassie, are there specific problems and issues you would like to tackle in the future using your computer science skills?

KH: Besides wanting to help people go to Mars, I’m tired of criminal hackers preying on people I care about. One of my extended family members lost over $1500 to scammers. I want to make the world a better place by stopping these people in their tracks and helping people who have been scammed understand how to prevent it from happening. I also really like automating things and making them easier for people. For example, I created an app with a team that helps people in my community easily access statistics on their water usage and helps them conserve water. I hope to provide tools to people that give them the power to help change the world, simply, and one step at a time.

Founded in April 2009, the Broadcom Foundation is a nonprofit corporation with the mission to advance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education by funding research, recognizing scholarship, and increasing opportunity with their signature programs: the Broadcom MASTERS® and the Broadcom MASTERS® International. Established in 1921, the Society for Science & the Public is dedicated to the achievement of young scientists in independent research and to public engagement in science. You can keep up with the Broadcom Foundation and the Society on Twitter, the Society on Instagram, and the Broadcom MASTERS and Society on Facebook.

Sidor Clare and Kassie Holt Win Awards in the 2019 National Broadcom MASTERS® Competition was originally published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.