Anya Zhang, 17, who was named a “scholar” in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, poses for a photo at Clark High School Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022.
Friday, Feb. 4, 2022 | 2 a.m.
One of the brightest teenage scientists in the country is a senior at Clark High School in Las Vegas.
Anya Zhang, 17, is the only student from Nevada to break through to the semifinals of this year’s nationwide Regeneron Science Talent Search for her original research on the acidification of ocean waters.
Zhang, who attends Clark for its Academy of Math, Science and Technology magnet program, enjoys her Advanced Placement physics class, mineralogy and geology, and investigating protections for the desert’s limited groundwater. After a trip to the Pacific, she was inspired to study ocean acidification, a phenomenon that, among other potentially devastating impacts, drains the color from coral reefs.
“I do have very wide, very diverse interests. But there is something I’m really set on, which is helping continue to improve our environmental solutions in our world,” Zhang said. “The environment and the changing world that we live in right now is a really big issue and I think it’s only going to get more severe in the future, so I would love to be able to direct my interests so I can not only pursue what I love but also be able to help the world at the same time.”
Her interest in coral health led to a summer program last year with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which ocean acidification was studied extensively. She liked the experience so much that she stayed in touch with her mentors into the fall, and her Science Talent Search entry, a paper titled “Spatial Variability of Ocean Acidification and Its Influencing Factors in Massachusetts Bay,” was born.
Zhang was one of 300 Science Talent Search semifinalists, or “scholars,” selected out of 1,800 applications. She missed out on being one of the 40 finalists for the program. Still, she and her school will be awarded $2,000 each.
The Science Talent Search, which has been showcasing young scientists since 1942, bills itself as the oldest and most prestigious high school research competition in the country. Its alumni have gone on to win 13 Nobel Prizes, 22 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships and 11 National Medals of Science, among other major math and science honors. The top two executives of current sponsor Regeneron – the biotech company that may be most popularly known as a developer of antibody treatments for COVID-19 – were Science Talent Search participants.
“The fact that (Zhang) is part of the top 300 young scientists and engineers in this country is quite a statement, and we expect great things from her moving forward,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the organization that puts on the competition, the Society for Science.
Zhang is Vegas-born and raised, but the state of the sea spoke to her when she was snorkeling off Maui and saw the once-vibrant coral reduced to a sickly gray. They were “bleached,” which happens when coral living in stressful environments expel the color-generating algae that live in their tissues.
Coral and algae have a mutually beneficial relationship — coral gives the algae shelter, algae give the coral color, and they provide each other with nutrients. Without the algae, the coral is more susceptible to disease and death. It’s “bleak,” Zhang said.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), human-driven increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are causing more greenhouse gasses to dissolve into the ocean. Water and carbon dioxide combine to form carbonic acid, driving down the ocean’s pH levels.
Acidification is visible when the rainbows of coral bleed away, but it reaches far beyond the reefs. Fisheries and tourism that support the people of coastal communities take a hit when water becomes too acidic for healthy ecosystems.
NOAA says acidic water can prevent formation of or destroy shells and skeletons of marine life from coral, to crabs that are prized by human diners, to tiny snails that are critical parts of the ocean food web. It can also hinder the growth of habitat that protects fish from predators.
The acidity of the ocean may literally seem like a faraway problem to desert-dwelling Nevadans, but “there’s like this whole chain of connections,” Zhang said.
Zhang looked at measurable water chemistry factors using real data from MIT’s previous studies. Highly localized study could make the acidification problem easier to solve anywhere using a customizable approach, she said.
“If these solutions don’t come, I’m sure we’ll be barreling down a very expensive and a very tragic pathway in the future,” she said.
Zhang has applied to several universities, including MIT and UNLV. She says wherever she goes next is where she’s meant to be. As long as she can research as an undergraduate, she’ll be happy.
Scientific curiosity and leadership are part of what made her and other honorees stand out to contest organizers, Ajmera said.
“They’re solving the world’s most intractable problems,” she said.
