UPDATE January 24, 2024: Alexis Li was named in the top 40 of the Regeneron Science and Talent Search (STS) and a Coca-Cola Scholarship Regional Finalist after this story was published. Hamilton High School's Alexander Huang was also named a Coca-Cola Finalist. Good luck to these Huskies!
Hamilton High School student Alexis Li was named in the top 300 of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors called the Regeneron Science and Talent Search (STS).
In the 2024 class, Li is one of four students from Arizona and the sole student representing Chandler Unified School District (CUSD). The top 300 were selected from an applicant pool of 2,162 applications from 712 high schools across 46 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and 10 other countries.
“We are excited to have created a STEM culture at Hamilton High wher students feel confident and supported in STEM-related passions and careers. Students like Alexis who showcase their talents at the highest level make us proud. We know that it is a combination of student effort, teacher support, and family backing that bring these kinds of recognitions to fruition,” Hamilton High principal Mike De La Torre said.
Li's project is titled “BrainSTEAM: A Practical Pipeline for Connectome-Based fMRI Analysis Toward Brain Disorder Classification.” Her research follows mapping neuron interactions to understand the progression, prevention, and accommodation of disorders such as ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and depression. She developed a GNN-based framework called BrainSTEAM that analyzes blood flow information in functional MRI images to determine the connection strengths between regions of the brain. She evaluated her model on two data sets: ABIDE for ASD prediction and HCP for gender classification. BrainSTEAM outperformed previous models of the two by 9.38% and 7.71%. Her findings make significant contributions to early diagnosis, a critical factor in getting patients treatment that can slow progression, save money on future costly treatments, and further studies.
“I was excited and honored to be named a Regeneron STS Top 300 Scholar, and it is also an affirmation to continue with my work in the field of medical imaging. I'm also happy to have the opportunity to connect with like-minded scholars and professors on the alumni network and I hope to be able to converse and gain insight from them someday. I'm thankful to my teachers and the administrators at Hamilton High School and in CUSD for supporting me through these four years of high school, providing me with the resources I needed to reach this level,” Li said.
Li is also a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist and a Coca-Cola Scholar Semifinalist. In her career at Hamilton, she has taken 11 AP classes including AP Biology, AP Physics, and AP Chemistry. Outside of research, she’s been involved in Speech and Debate, non-profit organizations with partnerships including Sigma Xi, Toastmasters, and the Salvation Army. She also competed in entrepreneurship competitions such as the Diamond Challenge and Personal Finance Challenge.
When Li graduates, she plans on creating her own biotechnology medical startup to develop new machine-learning technology to help doctors and patients. She also wants to focus the startup on reducing inequality gaps that exist in patient care and providing cheaper and more accessible options for treatments.
About Regeneron STS
The top 300 entrants receive $2,000 each, and the schools they represent also receive $2,000 for each scholar named at the school to recognize “excellence in teaching and school support of individual student researchers, and is to contribute to excellence in science, math or engineering education at the recipient school.”
The Top 40 finalists chosen from the 300 will receive $25,000 (minimally) and a week in Washington, D.C. in March to attend the Regeneron Science Talent Institute. After undergoing review with the judging panel and presenting their research, the top 10 winners will be selected. The first-place winner will receive $250,000.
Good luck, Alexis!
Interested in learning more about Hamilton High School? Visit cusd80.com/hhs.
