2024 INO Winners
First Place -Annie Zhou
Second Place -
Samarth Basanth
Third Place - Diya Patel
Annie Zhou is a junior at Plano West Senior High School in Texas with a strong interest in neuroscience and medicine. She is conducting research on post-translational modifications of tau protein in Alzheimer's disease. Passionate about neuroscience outreach, she founded NeuroHub, a nonprofit featuring student-written blog articles that make neuroscience topics accessible to a wider audience. Annie aspires to become a neurosurgeon, and in her free time, she enjoys dancing, practicing Taekwondo, and volunteering at her local senior center.
Samarth Basanth is a high school junior at South Windsor High School in Connecticut with a deep passion for neuroscience, focusing on innovative methods for detecting neurodegenerative diseases. He shares his research at international science fairs and in publications, while also conducting studies on Alzheimer’s biomarkers at Yale. Driven by a commitment to health equity, Samarth founded Samanate, a nonprofit dedicated to health equity advocacy and community support. He also leads Science Speaks, a TEDx-style platform, and Bobcat STEWS, a district-wide STEM newspaper, to foster scientific curiosity and dialogue. Outside of academics, Samarth competes nationally in Taekwondo and enjoys playing volleyball in his free time.
Diya Patel is a high school senior from Los Angeles, CA. She has been fascinated by the brain since fourth grade—especially how memory and sleep work—and she loves reading and researching all things sleep-related. She even recently published a study on brain EEGs during sleep! She is passionate about health advocacy for rural communities due to her rural upbringing, and she hopes to make a difference as a neurologist one day. Outside of science, she enjoys dancing and making origami with her sister.