Regeneron Named as Science Talent Search Sponsor
May 26 2016 - 12:30AM
Dow Jones News
By Ron Winslow
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. was selected as the new named
sponsor of the Science Talent Search, making the biotechnology
company the third corporate benefactor of the iconic 75-year-old
high-school science competition once widely known as "the
Westinghouse."
Regeneron, whose top two executives are alumni of the Science
Talent Search competition, was selected from among some 50
companies and philanthropies that initially expressed interest.
Regeneron succeeds Intel Corp., which said last September it
decided to drop its sponsorship.
The Society for Science & and the Public, a Washington,
D.C., nonprofit that owns and manages the program, is announcing
Regeneron's selection Thursday at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York.
The company has committed $100 million to the program over the
next 10 years, about double its current funding. "They are making a
big national statement that science is absolutely critical to our
economy and also to the next generation of talent in this country,"
said Maya Ajmera, president and chief executive of the society.
Founded in 1942 and funded by the former Westinghouse Electric
Corp. for more than a half-century, the Science Talent Search has
provided more than $25 million in awards to over 8,500 students,
many of whom have subsequently made important contributions to
science.
Alumni of the competition include 17 MacArthur Foundation
fellows, 11 National Medal of Science winners and 12 Nobel
laureates.
"The talent search has been the symbol of greatness to come in
American science," said Rush Holt, chief executive of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, which isn't involved
with the program.
Regeneron is the first life-sciences company to sponsor the
program. "First it was Westinghouse, then it was Intel, and now
it's a biotech company," said Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the
Hayden Planetarium at the natural history museum who is hosting
Wednesday's announcement. "That's quite a trajectory."
Both Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron's founder, president and chief
executive officer, and George D. Yancopoulos, its founding
scientist and chief science officer, were participants in the
competition, a key reason the company pursued sponsorship.
As a student at Bronx High School of Science, Dr. Yancopoulos
recalls getting up at 3 a.m. to get to school by 5 a.m. to meet a
teacher who helped him with his projects. Initially, his plan was
to try to regenerate neurons, but when that proved too difficult,
he switched to experimenting with single-celled organisms called
blepharisma that had distinctive heads, mouths and digestive
systems.
"You could damage that and it would grow back over the course of
a few hours," he said. He was a top-10 finalist in the talent
search in 1976.
Dr. Schleifer was a semifinalist for a geometry project in
1970.
News of Intel's decision to drop the program broke last
September -- as it happened on a day Regeneron's board was meeting.
Dr. Schleifer and Dr. Yancopoulos discussed approaching the board
about going after the sponsorship. They didn't have to ask.
Regeneron's board "unanimously directed company management to
pursue this opportunity," according to a letter board members sent
in support of the company's applications.
"Having benefited from it, we feel it's our responsibility to
take this on," Dr. Yancopoulos said.
The $100 million will double total financial awards given
annually to students and their participating schools to $3.1
million from $1.6 million. The award for the first place winner
will increase to $250,000 from $150,000.
Over 10 years, $30 million will be dedicated to training
educators and extending "outreach and equity" to broaden and
increase the students who are able to compete. "We know there are
underserved kids who are doing research but don't compete," Ms.
Ajmera said. "They need some extra help to increase their
confidence and develop better writing and communication skills" to
explain their research.
Competition for the coming year's Regeneron Science Talent
Search opens in June with applications due in November. Judges
select 300 "top young scientists" from an expected 2,000
applicants, from whom 40 are selected as finalists. They travel to
Washington for a week in March where they present their projects
and are interviewed by scientists for the final judging.
Write to Ron Winslow at ron.winslow@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2016 00:15 ET (04:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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