How She Did STEM Research in High School, And You Can Too

This is Eli's story of doing research in high school, winning a Second Grand Award in Microbiology at Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF), becoming a patent-holding inventor, cold emailing professors, and more!

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Our Guest
1:32 Eli's Winning ISEF Project
3:15 Winning ISEF Reaction
5:24 Inspiration for doing project
8:40 Coming up with a project idea
11:20 Cold emailing advice
14:35 College applications
16:00 Science fair coaching
16:31 Science fair advice
19:30 Women in STEM
21:40 Other extracurriculars
23:40 Productivity and time management
25:30 Dream school

RESOURCES:

WHO AM I:

[v.k.]

OMG OMG I know Eli personally!!! She is AMAZING!!! Her work never ceased to amaze me. Eli if you’re reading this, I am so proud of where you are now and I can’t wait to see how far you’ll go in life. Eli went through so much CRAP at our school and she honestly deserves the world and MORE. Keep dreaming girl. Also Rishab, thank you for making this video! I appreciate your work ❤❤❤❤

[mollycullen]

That was my ISEF roommate! I’m so proud of you Eli!!!

[CultureCookie-qp]

This is an amazing video! I love the interviews! I was wondering if someone wants to do research in a lab, just like Eli did, and they cold email professors with their idea, and a professor welcomes them, how would they do research at the lab independently and work on their idea if they do not know how to use the lab tools and carry out a lab-based research experiment?

[hithisisjacob]

Imagine having the sheer will to transfer schools for a more rigorous education! What a legend!

[VeryHumanVideos]

00:04 Ellie won Second Place Grand award for STEM research.
02:10 Research on enhancing plastic biodegradation
06:05 STEM research empowered her to create her own learning style
07:58 Targeting microbiology for plastic pollution solution
11:44 Cold emailing researchers without prior experience
13:44 Utilizing Zoom meetings to secure opportunities in STEM research
17:41 Getting people to ask you questions is crucial for STEM research preparation.
19:31 Encourage young women interested in STEM to persevere despite societal challenges.
23:06 High school students can balance STEM research with extracurricular activities and social life.
24:46 Paper calendar is preferred for school assignments and extracurriculars

[namanpradhan]

i was so bored today but then a rishab jain vid came out.

[Zos-extras]

This interview was extremely beneficial! I am also a student interested in natural biodegradation of plastics and enzymatic action on complex polymers. Is it possible to know where I can find Eli's paper? Since I am too, hoping to write a paper on a similar topic. Thanks!

[Vic-bxek]

Awesome video!! I also have a question. How do you get to ISEF living in a European country? I know there are science fairs here but I can’t find them online or I don’t know how to participate. It seems like so many high schools in the U.S do them, while it’s not really a thing here in Belgium/The Netherlands.

[LP-kwkj]

how are you supposed to know this as a high schooler, i genuinely want to know, i'm a senior and there is no conceivable way for me to be aware of things like this, there is so much information out in the world that it's mind numbing to think of what to put my focus on, especially something so niche and complex, I'm already a senior so I'm extremely depressed and feel like it's too late for me to have any meaning in life

[Krishna]

my day was going well until this video came out.

[bens]

Do you know of any way to do research in physics as a high schooler? I’m trying to get started and I don’t really know how.