From May 10th-16th, high school junior Thomas Jichen Wang (Shady Side Academy) competed at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) as 1 of 6 finalists selected from the Greater Pittsburgh Region. He competed in the Physics and Astronomy category, winning the 2nd place grand award of $2,400 sponsored by Jane Street.

Thomas is the second student ever from his high school to qualify for ISEF. His project involved nearly 6 months of observations conducted at the Allegheny Observatory, imaging variable quasars to understand properties of supermassive black holes’ accretion disks. At ISEF, he was judged by NASA technologists and astrophysics professors, and they discussed in depth his project and the future of black hole physics research.

Thomas deeply appreciates the University of Pittsburgh Allegheny Observatory, specifically, Dr. David Turnshek and Ms. Kerry Handron, for mentoring his research. He is a member of the Allegheny Observers, a high school club dedicated to learning and sharing astrophysics.