The 2022 result
Society for Science's page for the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search lists the top ten in order, and Christine Ye of Sammamish, Washington heads it. Behind her came Victor Cai of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Amber Luo of East Setauket, New York, Daniel Larsen of Bloomington, Indiana and Neil Chowdhury of Exeter, New Hampshire, followed by Aseel Rawashdeh, Pravalika Gayatri Putalapattu, Neil Rathi, Amara Orth and Luke Robitaille.
Wikipedia's list of winners records the same result. The research record behind this page describes her field as astrophysics, but neither source read here carries a project title or description, so this page states the placing and stops.
What the competition is
The Science Talent Search was founded in 1942 and is described as the oldest and most prestigious research-based science competition for American high school seniors. It was the Westinghouse Science Talent Search until 1998, the Intel competition from 1999 to 2016, and has been sponsored by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals since 2017.
Roughly 2,000 projects are submitted each year. The top 300 scholars receive $2,000 each, 40 finalists are selected from that group, and the first-place award is $250,000.
Why the prize matters
The competition's standing rests on what happened to its previous entrants. Thirteen alumni have gone on to win Nobel Prizes, twenty have received MacArthur Fellowships and eleven have been awarded National Medals of Science. Many have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Engineering.
That record is why first place is treated as a national result rather than a school prize. It identifies research potential at seventeen or eighteen, and the alumni list is the evidence that the identification works more often than chance would allow.
What is documented - and what is not
What is documented is the placing, the year, the home town and the structure of the award. Those come from Society for Science's own results page and from the encyclopaedia entry on the competition.
What is not documented in the sources read here is the project itself. The results page refers to a finalist book that was not accessible for this page, and no press coverage of the project was consulted. No birth year, age, school, photograph or quotation appears in these sources either, and nothing has been established about what Ye has done since 2022.
The rest of the 2022 field
A top-ten list is also a snapshot of where American high-school research was coming from that year: Washington state, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, New Hampshire, Texas, Virginia, California and Iowa.
The competition's geography matters because entry runs through individual schools and mentors rather than through a national selection system. A first place in that structure means finishing ahead of roughly two thousand submitted projects, not winning a series of qualifying rounds.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Christine Ye | United States | First place, 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- First place in the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search (Society for Science top-ten listing; Wikipedia winners list)
- Listed with the home town Sammamish, Washington
- The first-place award is $250,000 and the competition dates from 1942
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No project title or description in the sources read here
- The competition's finalist book, which may contain the project summary, was not accessible
- No published birth year, age, school or later activity
Questions people ask about Christine Ye
What is Christine Ye known for?
Taking first place in the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search, the oldest research-based science competition for American high school seniors.
What was her project about?
The sources read here do not describe it. The research record behind this page gives her field as astrophysics, but no project title or summary is confirmed.
How much is first place worth?
$250,000.
Where is she from?
Sammamish, Washington, according to the official top-ten listing.
How old is Christine Ye?
No source used here gives an age or birth year. The competition is open to American high school seniors.
Who else finished in the top ten?
Victor Cai, Amber Luo, Daniel Larsen, Neil Chowdhury, Aseel Rawashdeh, Pravalika Gayatri Putalapattu, Neil Rathi, Amara Orth and Luke Robitaille.
Is Christine Ye on Wikipedia?
There is no article devoted to her. She appears in Wikipedia's list of Science Talent Search winners.
Where is Christine Ye now?
Nothing after the 2022 competition appears in the sources used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Christine’s story?
Which competition did Christine Ye win in 2022?
What does first place pay?
In which year was the Science Talent Search founded?
Sources
- Regeneron STS 2022 - top 10 — Society for Science, 2022
- Regeneron Science Talent Search — Wikipedia, n.d.
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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