BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Iris Pan of Bridgwater was recently awarded the STEAM Scholarship by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), for her contributions to the field.
Iris founded Brighter Dental, a community- and school-wide initiative, to raise awareness about the importance of pediatric oral hygiene. She organized partnerships between Bridgewater-Raritan elementary schools and pediatric dentistry clinics, where dentists visited to teach oral hygiene and give out supplies to take home.
She also founded Waksman at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School, a research club that partners with Rutgers University, to sequence Landoltia punctata DNA and publish their sequences in a database.
During the summer of 2023, she published six of her own sequences through intensive biology research with a Rutgers University program. She has also worked with Dr. Sanchita Bhatnagar from UC Davis to write a review paper, “Exploring mechanisms and promising treatments of malignant melanoma,” which was accepted by the Journal of Student Research.
“I am eager to merge the study of life with the chemical composition and mechanisms of biological molecules, which will ultimately help me to approach treatment from a nuanced perspective. Eventually, I hope to refine my love for living organisms to specifically the interactions in the human body. I am passionate about pursuing a career in pediatric healthcare,” said Iris.
NSHSS is the premier honors and scholarship program co-founded by Claes Nobel of the Nobel Prize family and James Lewis. NSHSS offers a lifetime of benefits, pairing the highest performing students worldwide with college scholarships, events, connections, internships, and career opportunities that begin in high school and carry on through college and career. For more information, visit nshss.org.
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