McAllen ISD student to compete in international science event

McAllen ISD high school student Claire Kim will be competing on a multi-national stage May 10-16. She will be at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be administered by the non-profit Society for Science in Columbus, Ohio.

According to the Society’s website, this is the “world’s largest international STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) research competition for high school students.”

Kim is a sophomore in McAllen ISD’s International Baccalaureate Programme based at Lamar Academy. She qualified by winning the Grand Championship at the Regional Science and Engineering Fair in February at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She also earned two medals for her project.

Her research-based project deals with Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is called AI-Driven Drug Discovery: Designing Cancer-Inhibiting Molecules with Genetic Algorithms.

“My project is basically designing an algorithm that designs molecules that could potentially inhibit cancer proteins found in cancer cells,” Kim explained. “These proteins provide the cancer cells with nutrients that regulates vital processes. These inhibitors will go in and bind to these proteins and thus, render that protein unable to react with others. So, yes, proteins, in this case are bad.”

She began working on the project in October and finished it in February.

Part of the competition involves research, something Kim loves to do. She also had a mentor. In this case, her father, Dr. Dongchul Kim, a professor of Computer Science at UTRGV.

“I didn’t learn all this information by myself,” she said. “He (father) taught me all the background knowledge that I needed.”

For much of her life, Kim has held a fascination for science.

“I got interested in STEM through science fiction films, especially coding,” she said. “I just really wanted to code and I think that’s what introduced me to STEM, especially toward CS (Computer Science).”

Coding refers to calculating a computer program which will execute a predetermined result.

Jose Gomez, a science teacher in McAllen ISD’s IB Diploma Programme (something Kim will enter next year as a junior) coached Kim when she was part of Lamar Academy’s Science Olympiad team last year.

“I did see her work ethic,” Gomez said. (She is) very driven, very independent. You have to be (driven) to put something of that caliber together.”

In Science Olympiad, students compete on a team in 23 science events. The Science and Engineering Fair program is more centered toward individual competitors.