The problem she attacked
Second-order cone programming, or SOCP, is a class of convex optimisation problem used wherever a system has to find the best solution subject to constraints that curve rather than run straight. Solvers for it are exact and slow; the cost rises sharply with the number of constraints.
Wei's approach, as Science News Explores described it, was to stop insisting on exactness. Her method estimates the path towards a solution and simplifies complicated constraints into simpler ones, producing an algorithm that outperformed existing approaches. The trade is a familiar one in computational mathematics — accept an approximation, gain an order of speed — and the skill lies in bounding how much is given away.
What ISEF 2024 awarded
The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair drew nearly 2,000 high-school finalists from almost 70 countries, regions and territories in 2024. Wei, then a senior at the Harker School in San José, took the Regeneron Young Scientist Award and its $50,000 prize, first place in the Systems Software division with a further $5,000, first place in the National Security Agency's Principles of Security and Privacy category, a $1,200 award from TÜBİTAK in Türkiye, and a prize from the China Association for Science and Technology.
The fair's top honour that year, the George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award worth $75,000, went to Grace Sun for work in bioelectronics. Wei's own account of why she chose the problem is unshowy: "I really wanted to see how I could use something in computer science to make an impact, but with something that also has to do with a lot of math."
The double
The same year she was a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the older and smaller of the two American competitions, where the record here places her third. Doing well in both in a single year is rare: ISEF is a project fair judged on a stand, the Science Talent Search is a paper-and-interview contest judged on scientific promise, and they reward different things.
Placing in both suggests the work held up under two kinds of scrutiny — a demonstration to judges walking a hall, and a sustained interrogation by researchers reading the mathematics.
What is documented — and what is not
Documented: a $50,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Award at ISEF 2024; first place in Systems Software; a first place in the NSA's security and privacy category; awards from TÜBİTAK and the China Association for Science and Technology; her age of seventeen and her school, the Harker School in San José; the nature of the algorithm; and finalist status in the 2024 Science Talent Search.
Not documented in the sources used here: her date of birth; whether the algorithm has been published or peer-reviewed; where she went to university; and anything about her work since 2024. Competition results are not publications, and no source used here states that the method has been independently reproduced.
What these fairs select for
The two American science competitions have an unusual record of predicting careers, and the reason is structural. Neither rewards a demonstration or a recital. Both require an original question, a method capable of answering it, and a defence of the result in front of people who do the same work professionally.
That is why a piece of convex optimisation wins the same prize money as a medical device. The judging is indifferent to how legible the subject is to the public; it asks whether the work is real. On that test, an algorithm that measurably outperforms the existing approaches to a well-defined class of problems is about as clean a result as a seventeen-year-old can produce, and the prize list that year reflects it.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michelle Wei | United States | A faster algorithm for second-order cone programming | Age 0 |
| Sawsan Ahmed | United States | Broward College's youngest graduate, at 12, in December 2021 | Age 12 |
| Arvind Mahankali | United States | Won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Kerry Close | United States | Won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Shania Muhammad | United States | Langston University's youngest graduate, at 15 | Age 15 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Won a $50,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Award at ISEF 2024 (Science News Explores, 17 May 2024).
- Also took first place in Systems Software and in the NSA's Principles of Security and Privacy category.
- Seventeen at the time, and a senior at the Harker School in San José, California.
- Her method speeds up second-order cone programming by approximating the solution path and simplifying constraints.
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Her date of birth is not published in the sources used here.
- Her third place in the 2024 Science Talent Search is carried from the research record; the Society for Science listings confirm finalist status.
- It is not established that the algorithm has been published or peer-reviewed.
- Nothing is documented about her university or her work after 2024.
Questions people ask about Michelle Wei
What did Michelle Wei win?
A $50,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Award at the 2024 International Science and Engineering Fair, plus first place in Systems Software and in the NSA's Principles of Security and Privacy category.
What was her project?
A method for solving second-order cone programming problems faster, by estimating the path to a solution and simplifying complicated constraints into simpler ones.
How old is Michelle Wei?
She was seventeen and a senior at the Harker School in May 2024, which implies a birth year around 2007.
Did she compete in the Science Talent Search?
Yes. She was a 2024 Regeneron Science Talent Search finalist; the record used here places her third.
How big is ISEF?
Nearly 2,000 high-school finalists from almost 70 countries, regions and territories competed in 2024.
Who won the top ISEF prize in 2024?
Grace Sun, who took the $75,000 George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award for bioelectronics research.
Is Michelle Wei on Wikipedia?
No. There is no Wikipedia article about her; the record rests on Science News Explores and Society for Science listings.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Michelle’s story?
What was Michelle Wei's ISEF 2024 prize worth?
What kind of problem does her algorithm speed up?
How many finalists competed at ISEF 2024?
Sources
- Bioelectronics research wins top award at 2024 Regeneron ISEF — Science News Explores, 2024-05-17
- Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024 — Society for Science, 2024
- Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024 Finalists — Society for Science, 2024
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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