前言： 素有“少年诺贝尔奖”之称的雷杰纳隆科学奖（RegeneronSTS)，在美国使许多中学的数学物理精英人才感兴趣，从而投入他们的时间、精力，他们克服了众多的困难，层层预赛、决赛，最后获奖。从此，也改变了他们的人生。参赛雷杰纳隆科学奖(RegeneronSTS)不是基础数学和基础物理的学习，而是数学、物理、经济的自然科学和社会科学的广泛结合（ comparedwith the natural course like math and physics and the social courses likeeconomics etc.）。但是，事实证明这些课程外的研究型活动不是多余的，同时也激发他们对中学、大学的基础课的更深入更广泛的学习和掌握。下面选摘一篇关于雷杰纳隆科学奖(RegeneronSTS)的报道，和一篇获奖者的感想文章，给老师们参考阅读，特别是提供给王昕雄老师、陈志涛老师、许金朗老师，看看给我们的数学、物理、英语学科的教学有什么灵感可以产生。谢谢！
林鼎旻
2019年8月18日
雷杰纳隆科学奖公布
美国九名华裔学生入围前40名
据美国《世界日报》报道，素有“少年诺贝尔奖”之称的雷杰纳隆科学奖(Regeneron STS)，2019年3月12日晚在美国华盛顿特区的国家建筑博物馆举办晚宴，并揭晓最终胜者。入围前40的九名华裔学生有两人入围前十，分别是获得第四名的杨美琳和第九名的黄文声。第一名由维州亚历山德拉市威廉斯高中(T.C.Williams HS)的安娜哈弗瑞(Ana Humphrey)摘得，第一名到第十名将递减获得25万美元到4万美元奖金。
美国德州西布兰诺高中的黄文声(Vincent Huang)凭借运用数学及算法模型分析难民危机，获得第九名，奖金5万美元；密执安州底特律乡村日高中的杨美琳(MadeleineYang)，凭借研究通用流感疫苗获第四名，10万美元奖金。
雷杰纳隆总裁兼首席科学官扬科普路斯(George D.Yancopoulos)曾是该奖1976年的决赛入围者，也因此改变了人生。
他在会上以自己的故事鼓励决赛选手勇敢追梦，并说，今年决赛学生有八成来自移民家庭，他们靠着才华和努力登上今晚的舞台，而帮助这些优秀学生成就自己，正是拯救世界所需。
今年参与雷杰纳隆科学奖的1964名学生来自601所高中，入围前300名半决赛(semi-finalists)的华裔高中生占比近三成。前40名决赛(finalists)名单亦有9名华裔高中生，分别来自马州、加州、德州、纽约州、麻州等八州，每人将至少获得25000美元。
Do My Best to Work for a Passion
Thomas Lam: Do My Best to Work for a Passion
High School: Syosset High School in Long Island, New York
University: Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania （Class 2023）
Major: Mathematics
It was mid-January, the day before the Society for Science would announce the 40 Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists. I didn't really care that much about it because I was pretty certain that I wouldn't win that distinction. Mysteriously, I had been getting a call from an unknown number throughout the day, and not knowing what it was, I kept rejecting it. Later in the evening, the phone rang again, and I finally decided to pick it up.
There is not a day that passes without me thinking to myself, “My God, I'm a Regeneron Finalist”. Although it’s been almost half a year since it was announced, the shock I received from that phone call has not yet subsided. Throughout my continuing disbelief, I have been thinking about how exactly I’ve managed to come so far.
I believe the first factor of my success was freedom.Growing up, I had many different interests. Of course, I was primarily interested in mathematics, but I also liked to solve logic puzzles, play chess, play the violin, and fold origami, among other activities. My parents never dissuaded me from pursuing these activities, and supported me every step of the way.
I was fortunate to have enthusiastic family support for all my different interests. My parents enrolled me in math classes to cultivate my interest in creative mathematics.They signed me up for chess lessons, which developed my focus and problem-solving ability. They also found a brilliant violin teacher, who taught me how to express myself through music.
It was essential that my parents never really forced me into any of these activities (except, understandably, learning how to swim, so I wouldn't drown in the ocean). Though all these activities were big time commitments, I had no problem juggling all of them because I enjoyed them. Time and time again, I've met students suffering in extra classes for competition math,when they would rather be anywhere but in math class. I've seen students who have finished brilliant research projects, but show no enthusiasm talking about them because they have no passion for their work! I believe that being able to pursue the interests I wanted to pursue, without being held back by soul-draining obligations, was essential for my personal development.
The second factor of my success was inspiration. For far too long, I was ignorant of the true depth and beauty of mathematics. I never used my full potential because I thought I was the best and the smartest, and that was all that mattered to me. Instead of truly developing my mathematical ability, I memorized complicated equations as a facade to give the impression of intelligence.
My life changed when I met Wanlin Li. She was a fellow student in my high school, and although she was just a year older, it seemed like she had decades more experience in mathematics than I did. She was practically everything I wanted to be, and so she became my role model and the source of inspiration for my mathematical career.
Because of Wanlin's influence, I found motivation to dedicate countless hours to studying real mathematics. I went to summer camps to learn math, did endless math problems during class time, procrastinated my math homework to do more interesting math… the list goes on. The role of mathematics in my life drastically changed, from being merely a tool to impress others to a genuine passion.
What astounds me about inspiration is its transitivity. Following my successes in competition mathematics, I spent more time spreading my joy of mathematics to others. Combining my mathematical experience and unique sense of humor, I dedicated much of my spare time to making math accessible – and more importantly fun – to my friends, classmates, and many other students. As a result, I’ve found that I’ve profoundly contributed to my community through mathematics. I've helped my classmates feel less stressed about their math tests, and ultimately helped them pass their final exams. I’ve changed many peoples’ negative perceptions towards mathematics, and inspired them to not just study math, but also work harder in general. Just as Wanlin was a role model for me, I became a role model for others.
Even with both freedom and inspiration, my path to becoming a Regeneron STS Finalist was anything but straightforward. My dream was not actually to be successful in research competitions, but to be a great math Olympian. So, my goal was set on qualifying for the USAMO, the national math Olympiad that only around 300 students may take every year. All my years of preparation had been spent working toward that goal. When I went through the two preliminary rounds required for qualification (the AMC and AIME), my combined score on those rounds ended up being a 216.5, which was disappointingly low in comparison to historical scores on those rounds. But miraculously, I lucked out: The cutoff for the USAMO that year was 216, a mere half a point lower! While I ultimately didn’t score well enough on the USAMO to advance to the next level of competition, I was happy with what I had accomplished.
That summer, I happened to have a mandatory assignment for my Advanced Research class, which I was not all too excited about. Due to some technicalities, the research project I had already completed was not eligible for a local research competition, so I had to start from scratch. I didn't believe I could win anything in research, so I chose to study an obscure mathematical puzzle that I had been very interested in. I had a lot of fun studying that puzzle, and ended up discovering some intriguing results. Even though I thought my project was too simple to win, I was proud of my work. And yet somehow, to the shock of just about everyone, it became one of three math research projects in the entire country to make it to the Regeneron STS final round.
Although I’m not entirely sure,I strongly suspect that the Regeneron STS bases their selection of finalists on pre-existing merit in addition to a good research project. As such, I’m almost certain my USAMO qualification was a major contributing factor to my successful application to the Regeneron STS. And to think that a mere half a point made all the difference! The margin of error was so breathtakingly small that I cannot help but appreciate everyone and everything that supported me in earning each one of those points. Had I been born into a different family, had my parents not been as supportive of my interests, had I not had all the mentors and teachers who were essential to my personal development, or had I never met Wanlin, I am doubtful that I would have scored all of those 216 and a half points.
It's critical that we do our best to work for a passion, and not just for a desire for success, because success is never a guarantee. Certainly, in my case, half a point made all the difference, and so even with all the hard work I did and all the opportunities I had, I believe I still needed a little luck on my side to pull through. But regardless of what success I ended up with, what's important is that I had fun with everything I did each step of the way. I loved all the competition math I did, I enjoyed working on the research project I chose, and no matter what happened as a result of my pursuits, it would have been time well spent. Even if I had won absolutely nothing from my efforts, I would have won personal satisfaction in the end.
尽最大努力为激情而学习
作者：Thomas Lam
高中：纽约长岛的西奥塞特高中
大学：宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡卡内基梅隆大学（2023级）
专业：数学
这是1月中旬，也就是科学学会宣布40名雷杰纳隆科学奖（RegeneronSTS）科学人才搜索决赛的前一天。我并不太在乎，因为我很确定自己不会赢得这一殊荣。奇怪的是，我一整天都接到一个未知号码的电话，不知道是什么号码，我一直拒绝接听。晚上晚些时候，电话又响了，我终于决定接电话。
没有一天我会对自己说，“天哪，我是雷杰纳隆科学奖（Regeneron STS）决赛选手”。虽然这是近半年以来，它被宣布，我从那个电话收到的冲击尚未消退。在我持续不相信的过程中，我一直在思考我到底是如何做到这一点的。
我相信我成功的第一个因素是自由。在成长过程中，我有许多不同的兴趣。当然，我主要对数学感兴趣，但我也喜欢解决逻辑难题，下棋，拉小提琴，折纸等活动。我的父母从不劝阻我从事这些活动，也支持我每一步。
我很幸运能有热情的家人支持我所有不同的兴趣。我父母让我上数学课，培养我对创造性数学的兴趣。他们让我上国际象棋课，这使我的注意力和解决问题的能力得到了提高。他们还找到了一位出色的小提琴老师，他教我如何通过音乐表达自己。
很重要的是，我的父母从未真正强迫我参加这些活动（可以理解的是，除了学习游泳，这样我就不会在海里淹死）。虽然所有这些活动都是重要的时间允许，但我很享受它们，所以很容易应付所有这些活动。一次又一次，我遇到了在学习数学的额外课程中苦苦挣扎的学生，他们宁愿去任何地方，也不愿意去上数学课。我见过那些完成了辉煌研究项目的学生，但是他们对自己的工作没有热情，所以没有热情地谈论他们！我相信，能够追求我想要追求的目标，而不被耗尽灵感的义务所束缚，这对我的个人发展至关重要。
我成功的第二个因素是灵感。很久以来，我对数学的真正深度和美丽一无所知。我从来没有充分发挥我的潜力，因为我认为我是最优秀和最聪明的，这就是我最重要的。我并没有真正发展我的数学能力，而是把复杂的方程式作为一个表面来记忆，给人以智慧的印象。
当我遇到李宛麟时，我的生活发生了变化。她是我高中的同学，虽然她只有大我一岁，但她在数学方面的经验似乎比我多了几十年。她几乎是我想要的一切，因此她成为了我的榜样，也是我数学生涯的灵感来源。
由于宛麟的影响，我找到了投入无数时间去学习数学真正的动机和动力。我去夏令营学习数学，在课堂上做了无数的数学题，拖延我的数学作业去做更有趣的数学……清单还在继续。数学在我生活中的作用发生了巨大的变化，从仅仅是给别人留下深刻印象我只是一个学习数学的工具，到学习数学真正的激情的产生。
让我惊讶的是灵感的传递性。随着我在数学竞赛中的成功，我花了更多的时间把数学的乐趣传播给别人。结合我的数学经验和独特的幽默感，我把大部分业余时间都花在了让我的朋友、同学和许多其他学生能够接触到数学，更重要的是让他们觉得有趣。结果，我发现我通过数学对我的社区做出了深刻的贡献。我帮助我的同学们减轻了对数学考试的压力，最终帮助他们通过了期末考试。我改变了许多人对数学的负面看法，激励他们不仅学习数学，而且更努力地学习。正如宛麟是我的榜样一样，我也成为了别人的榜样。
即使有了自由和灵感，我成为雷杰纳隆科学奖（Regeneron STS） 决赛选手的道路也很简单。我的梦想不是在研究比赛中取得成功，而是成为一名伟大的数学奥林匹克选手。所以，我的目标是为美国数学协会（USAMO）排位，这是一个全国性的数学奥林匹克运动会，每年只有大约300名学生参加。我多年的准备工作都是为了这个目标。当我通过了两轮资格预审（AMC和AIME）时，我在这些轮的总分是216.5分，与历史记录相比，这是令人失望的低。但奇迹般的是，我幸运地发现：那年美国的截止线是216，只比这低了半个百分点！虽然我最终在USAMO的得分不足以晋级下一级的比赛，但我对自己所取得的成绩感到满意。
那年夏天，我正好有一个必修的高级研究班作业，我并不太兴奋。由于技术上的原因，我已经完成的研究项目没有资格参加当地的研究竞赛，所以我不得不从头开始。我不相信我能在研究中赢得任何东西，所以我选择了研究一个我非常感兴趣的模糊数学难题。我在研究这个谜题时很开心，最后发现了一些有趣的结果。尽管我认为我的项目太简单了，无法取胜，但我为我的工作感到自豪。然而，不知何故，令几乎所有人震惊的是，它成为全国三个数学研究项目之一，使其进入雷杰纳隆科学奖决赛的最后一轮。
虽然我不完全确定，但我强烈怀疑，除了一个好的研究项目外，雷杰纳隆科学奖（Regeneron STS）将他们对决赛选手的选择建立在已有的优势之上。因此，我几乎肯定我的USAMO资格是我成功申请雷杰纳隆科学奖（RegeneronSTS）的主要因素。想一想，仅仅半个点就可以改变一切！误差幅度是如此惊人的小，以至于我不得不感谢所有支持我获得每一个分数的人和每一件事。如果我出生在一个不同的家庭，如果我的父母不支持我的兴趣，如果我没有所有对我个人发展至关重要的导师和老师，或者如果我从未遇到过宛麟，我怀疑我会拿下所有216分半。
我们必须尽最大努力为激情而工作，而不仅仅是为了成功的愿望，因为成功从来不是一个保证。当然，在我的情况下，有一半的分数起到了很大的作用，所以即使我付出了所有的努力，也有了所有的机会，我相信我仍然需要一点运气来度过难关。但是不管我最终取得了什么样的成功，重要的是我在每一步中都能享受到我所做的一切。我喜欢我做的所有数学竞赛，我喜欢为我选择的研究项目工作，无论我的追求结果如何，我都会把时间花得很好。即使我的努力毫无收获，我最终也会获得个人的满足。