Nassau County Legislative Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) and Nassau County Legislator Samantha Goetz (R-Locust Valley) honored two Regeneron Science Talent Search semifinalists from North Shore High School on February 24.
Kaitlin Ho, who researched “Magnesium Magic: The Rescue of the Parkinson’s Model of Drosophila melanogaster with MgCl₂ Supplementation,” was awarded $2,000 for being a semifinalist and received another $2,000 for the school in order to advance science education.
Eli Wesely-Jones, another Regeneron semifinalist from North Shore High School, was recognized for his research, “The Misunderstood Math of Medical Tests: Improving Understanding of Conditional Probability in Screening Tests.”
“Each and every year, Nassau County’s young scholars excel in the Regeneron Science Talent Search and astound us as they delve into research that has the potential to change the world,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “Their achievements give me hope that the future will be in good hands with our next generation of leaders, and I wish Kaitlin, Eli, and all of their classmates continued success in all of their pursuits!”
According to Long Island Insider, in 2025, six of the Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists came from Long Island, which is more than anywhere else in the country. Long Island also led the country with the most amount of Semifinalists with 49.