Mississauga student wins 2 awards in international STEM competition

A Mississauga student has taken two awards in a prestigious STEM project competition in Dallas, Texas.

Grade 11 Woodlands Secondary School student Aditya Dewan, 17, was in Dallas from May 14 to 19 for the 2023 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world’s largest and most prestigious pre-college STEM competition.

Aditya told insauga.com that he wasn’t focused on winning, but he took two awards for his project SPRKD: Effective Knowledge Distillation for Deep Neural Networks via Saddle Region Approximation, which centres around artificial intelligence and its use for everyday settings.

“I just focus on producing great work that can truly make a difference,” Aditya said.

Aditya earned a Fourth Award ($500) in robotics and intelligent machines and the National Security Agency Research Directorate – Cybersecurity second award ($1,500).

“It was incredible to see the remarkable performance of Team Canada’s outstanding students at this global event,” said Patrick Whippey, chair of the selection panel at Youth Science Canada, the national charitable organization behind Team Canada-ISEF since 1995 in a press release.

“The students’ ingenious ideas, scientific talent, and unending inquisitiveness were on display throughout the competition. Their exceptional commitment to STEM was evident in their projects. It was truly inspiring to witness.”

Reni Barlow, executive director of Youth Science Canada, congratulated the Canadian team of students.

“The success of Team Canada at Regeneron ISEF highlights the importance of nurturing the natural curiosity of Canadian youth in STEM,” Barlow said. “The young Canadian scientists, engineers, and innovators on the team displayed a level of scientific merit that is truly commendable.”

The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF), a program of Society for Science for over 70 years, is the world’s largest global science competition for high school.

Through a global network of local, regional, and national science fairs, millions of students are encouraged to explore their passion for scientific inquiry. Each spring, a group of these students is selected as finalists and offered the opportunity to compete for approximately U.S. $9 million in awards and scholarships.

Representing Team Canada (from left to right) were Thomas Yang, Cindy Cheng, Tara Zhan, Aditya Dewan, Annabelle Rayson, Krish Modi, Max Du, and Keerthan Kamala Krishnamoorthy. Photo credit: Adelina Neilsen.

A total of five Grand Awards were presented to Team Canada-ISEF during the Regeneron ISEF 2023 event:

Fourth Award – Biomedical engineering, $500

Cindy Cheng, Laurel Heights Secondary School, Waterloo, Ontario

Detecting Hypoxia Through the Non-Invasive Monitoring of Sweat Lactate and Tissue Oxygenation

Fourth Award – Biomedical engineering, $500

Tara Zhan, David Thompson Secondary, Vancouver, British Columbia

HemiStride: Design of a Low-Cost and Backdrivable Lower-Limb Exoskeleton for Hemiplegic Patients

 Fourth Award – Earth and environmental sciences, $500

Annabelle Marie Rayson, Saint Patrick’s Catholic High School, Sarnia, Ontario

Plankton Wars: An Innovative Analysis of Daphnia Genotype Biomanipulation for Algae Bloom Prevention

Fourth Award – Embedded systems, $500

Thomas Yang, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario

Seeing Cells Without a Lens: Compact 3D Digital Lensless Holographic Microscopy for Wide-field Imaging

Fourth Award – Robotics and intelligent machines, $500

Aditya Dewan, The Woodlands School – Secondary, Mississauga, Ontario

SPRKD: Effective Knowledge Distillation for Deep Neural Networks via Saddle Region Approximation 

Two special awards:

 China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) – Award of $1,200

Annabelle Marie Rayson, Saint Patrick’s Catholic High School, Sarnia, Ontario

Plankton Wars: An Innovative Analysis of Daphnia Genotype Biomanipulation for Algae Bloom Prevention

“Cybersecurity”- Second Place Award

Aditya Dewan, The Woodlands School – Secondary, Mississauga, Ontario

SPRKD: Effective Knowledge Distillation for Deep Neural Networks via Saddle Region Approximation

For more about Youth Science Canada, visit the website at youthscience.ca.

See www.societyforscience.org/isef for more on the awards.

Editors note: This story was updated on May 30 to correct an error in the photo caption and the name of the National Security Agency Research Directorate – Cybersecurity second award.