Half Hollow Hills
Central School District

Congratulations to Hills West senior Benson Lu Huang on being named a Scholar in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

 

Only 300 students were selected this year from more than 2,600 applicants, and Benson was recognized for his project, BLADE: Bioimpedance-Enabled Laparoscopic Articulated Dual-Purpose Endowrist System for Force Sensing and Anomaly Detection in Robotic Surgery.

 

He built a low-cost force sensor for robotic surgery that can alert surgeons to be more gentle on delicate tissues (like nerves) and flag potentially abnormal tissue (like tumors) even when it isn’t visible, at about 98% lower cost than current commercial options.

 

Each scholar will receive $2,000, and their school will also receive $2,000.