Blue Valley West junior Leena Dudi has fostered an interest in science for nearly all of her life.
These days, she said, she finds herself particularly interested in data science — where science and technology intersect. And she’s passionate about helping other students grow their own interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.
So when she got the opportunity to get involved with the first International Research Olympiad — a scientific analysis competition for high school students — she jumped at the chance.
The Olympiad is for students across the world
- The project was spearheaded by Rishab Jain, a Harvard University researcher who was also named one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential Teens in 2018, and his nonprofit Samyak Science Society.
- The nonprofit enlisted high school students like Dudi across the world to help the International Research Olympiad come to life.
- The aim of the competition, Dudi said, is to give students a chance to develop research skills —and thus create a new generation of scientists.
- “Research is really hard to do as a high schooler — I know a bunch of college students do it, but not many high schoolers get to do it,” she said. “They don’t really know how to do research or how to grow those skills — analytical skills — before they go to college. And I think that it’s really important that high schoolers have that opportunity.”
This is the first International Research Olympiad
- The board creating the competition hopes to expand the International Research Olympiad to other countries besides the United States.
- The competition has three rounds, and finals will result in gold, silver and bronze awards.
- The first round entails research paper analysis, scientific data interpretation, and question formation — and both semifinalists and finalists will progress to further rounds with deeper scientific analysis challenges.
- Registration for this year’s competition opens in early February.
- “With a lot of Science Olympiads out there, the tests require you to know a lot of information about a specific subject,” Dudi said. “The International Research Olympiad test is more analytical, and making sure you know how to analyze a document correctly instead of just memorizing information.”
Dudi’s STEM achievements sent her to the White House
In 2023, Dudi served as a state representative for a White House initiative called the Million Girls Moonshot Flight Crew.
The youth ambassador program aims to empower women to participate in STEM fields, which historically are dominated by men.
Through the program, Dudi connected with other STEM-interested students across the country and got insight from industry professionals.
Dudi was recently selected as a mentor for the program, which means she’ll get to guide members of this year’s “flight crew” of students. Dudi said this is an opportunity she’s looking forward to.
Ultimately, she enjoys any opportunity to help other students connect with these types of STEM-learning opportunities — including ones the International Research Olympiad.
“I’m really interested in STEM and I love to learn about people who’ve already gone through different STEM experiences,” she said. “And I’m interested in helping kids and younger students learn about research, so I thought this would be a great opportunity.”
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