Update Jan. 25: Corona Chen has been named as one of the 40 finalists for the Regeneron Science Talent Search. She will participate in a week-long competition in March that has $1.8 million in total for prize money. Read the full press release. 

Senior Corona Chen has been named a top 300 scholar in the 82nd Regeneron Science Talent Search, a prestigious international math and science competition. Each of the 300 students receives a $2,000 award, and their school is also awarded $2,000.

Corona was one of 1,949 students who took part in the competition. 

She entered the competition after taking part in a research summer camp last summer and deciding to enter felt natural with her  strong interest in STEM. 

“I have always been super into STEM and also doing research ever since a young age,” Corona said.  

In order to discover areas of interest in high school, Corona decided to reach out to professors for research opportunities, enabling her to put her STEM interests to use. Her research project was titled, “Understanding Incidental Microbial Communities Inside Ordinary Concrete Toward Decarbonization.”

Corona’s favorite part of STS was the satisfaction she said that comes from “sharing the research with other people” and seeing how the “research was having an impact.” 

In college, Corona plans to pursue a degree in STEM  and is currently most interested in bioengineering or environmental engineering.