RSI
RSI math faculty advisors David Jerison and Ankur Moitra, Slava Gerovitch, and head mentor Tanya Khovanova with RSI-2019 students and mentors
RSI math faculty advisors Ankur Moitra and Davesh Maulik and head mentor Tanya Khovanova with RSI-2018 students
Since 1993, the MIT Mathematics Department has participated in the Research Science Institute (RSI) , an MIT-hosted six-week summer program for rising high school seniors. RSI students are chosen for their superior achievement in math, science and engineering. The selection for RSI is done by the Center for Excellence in Education , a federally and privately funded nonprofit organization, based in Washington DC. All inquiries about applications to RSI should be directed to the CEE.
There are about 3,000 applicants to the program each year and of the 80 selected, around one third are from abroad and two thirds from the United
States. About a dozen students are selected to work on research projects in
mathematics. The MIT Mathematics Department Faculty Advisors for RSI match each student with a
mathematics graduate student mentor with compatible interests. The graduate
student mentor devises a research project, often in consultation with an
MIT faculty advisor. The graduate student then meets with each of his/her
mentees each weekday during the RSI program. RSI faculty advisor is Prof. David Jerison. Program assistant is André Dixon.
Applying to RSI
The application materials and the process can be found online at CEE RSI application page .
Past Projects
At the end of the program, students make presentations to each other and to a panel of scientists who are usually former RSI participants themselves. See abstracts and papers from recent mathematics projects.
Recent Awards
RSI students often use their projects to participate in the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) and the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology or the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF). The mathematics group has been very well represented among the winners of these contests.
2022
Matthew Chen
Semifinalist Regeneron STS 2023
Mentor: Adela Zhang
Madeleine de Belloy
Semifinalist Regeneron STS 2023
Mentor: Mary Stelow
Sally Zhu
Semifinalist Regeneron STS 2023
Mentor: Zhenhao Li
2021
Kevin Cong
Scholar Regeneron STS 2022
Mentor: Alexander Ortiz
Eli Meyers
Scholar Regeneron STS 2022
Mentor: Mary Stelow
2020
Yunseo Choi
First Place Regeneron STS 2021 / USA Finalist and Gold Medalist 2020 Yau Science Award / Honorable Mention at 2021 MAA Undergraduate Poster Session
Mentor: Prof. Scott Duke Kominers (Harvard)
Gregory Li
4th Grand Award (Math) ISEF-2021
Mentor: Ethan Sussman
Andrei Mandelshtam
4th Grand Award (Math) and 3rd Special Award (from AMS) at ISEF-2021 / Finalist Regeneron STS 2021
Mentor: Daniil Kalinov
2019
Dimitar Chakarov
Finalist ISEF-2020
Mentor: Yichi Zhang
Rupert Li
Finalist ISEF-2020
Mentor: Yibo Gao (PRIMES project)
Jason Liu
Finalist Regeneron STS 2020 / Davidson Fellow 2020
Mentor: Robert Burklund
AnaMaria Perez
Finalist ISEF-2020
Mentor: Rose Zhang
2018
Kayson Hansen
Finalist ISEF-2019
Mentor: Hood Chatham
Kaiying Hou
Scholar Regeneron STS 2019
Mentor: Ruoxuan Yang
Aknazar Kazhymurat
Finalist ISEF-2019
Mentor: Bar Kartal
Chavdar Lalov
Third Award in Math from AMS at ISEF-2019
Mentor: Guangyi Yue
Kevin Liu
Scholar Regeneron STS 2019
Mentor: Chun Hong Lo
Roshan Warman
Finalist ISEF-2019
Mentor: Yibo Gao
2017
Alan Peng
Semifinalist Siemens 2017 / Scholar Regeneron STS 2018
Mentor: Guangyi Yue
Michelle Shen
Semifinalist Siemens 2017 / Scholar Regeneron STS 2018
Mentor: Younhun Kim
Grace Tian
Semifinalist Siemens 2017 / Finalist Regeneron STS 2018
Mentor: Vishal Patil
David Wu
Semifinalist Siemens 2017 / Finalist Regeneron STS 2018 / Davidson Fellow 2018
Mentor: Robert Burklund
Karthik Yegnesh
Second Award in Math and AMS Honorable Mention ISEF 2018
Mentor: Augustus Lonergan
2016
Benjamin Chen
Semifinalist Siemens 2016 / Scholar Regeneron STS 2017
Mentor: Thao Do
Angela Deng
Scholar Regeneron STS 2017
Mentor: Guangyi Yue
Caleb He
Semifinalist Siemens 2016
Mentor: Ethan Jaffe
Dona-Maria Ivanova
Fourth Award in Math ISEF 2017
Mentor: Zhenkun Li
Nolan Reilly
Semifinalist Siemens 2016
Mentor: Mason Biamonte
Dhruv Rohatgi
Semifinalist Siemens 2016 / Scholar Regeneron STS 2017
Mentor: Chiheon Kim
2015
Amy Chou
Semifinalist Siemens 2015
Mentor: James Hirst
Brandon Epstein
Semifinalist Siemens 2015 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2016
Mentor: Hong Wang
Brian Gu
Semifinalist Siemens 2015
Mentor: Brandon Tran
Meena Jagadeesan
Semifinalist Siemens 2015
Mentor: Andrew Rzeznik
Abijith Krishnan
Semifinalist Siemens 2015
Mentor: Shan-Yuan Ho
Wilbur Li
Semifinalist Siemens 2015
Mentor: Cesar Cuenca
Sarvasva Raghuvanshi
Regional finalist Siemens 2015 / Outstanding Presentation at 2016 MAA Undergraduate Poster Session
Mentor: James Hirst
2014
Kavish Gandhi
Semifinalist Intel STS 2015
Mentor: Chiheon Kim
Petar Gaydarov
Second Prize Intel ISEF 2015
Mentor: Sam Hopkins, project by Alexander Postnikov
Noah Golowich
First Place Medal Intel STS 2015 / Davidson Fellow Laureate
Mentor: David Rolnick, project by Jacob Fox
Lev Kendrick
Semifinalist Intel STS 2015
Mentor: Gus Lonergan, project by Pavel Etingof
Shashwat Kishore
Third Place Medal Intel STS 2015
Mentor: Gus Lonergan, project by Pavel Etingof
Yelena Mandelshtam
Semifinalist Siemens 2014 / Finalist Intel STS 2015
Mentor: Miriam Farber, project by Alexander Postnikov
Peter Tian
First Prize Siemens 2014 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2015 / Davidson Fellow
Mentor: Jesse Geneson, project by Jesse Geneson
Jesse Zhang
Semifinalist Siemens 2014 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2015
Mentors: David Rush, project by Vic Reiner
2013
Rumen Dangovski
Second Prize Intel ISEF 2014
Mentor: Nathan Harman, project by Pavel Etingof
Raj Raina
Semifinalist Siemens 2013 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2014
Mentor: Rik Sengupta, project by Jacob Fox
Sarah Shader
Semifinalist Siemens 2013 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2014 / Second Place AMS Menger Award at Intel ISEF 2014
Mentor: Gaku Liu, project by Alexander Postnikov
Jessica Shi
Semifinalist Siemens 2013 / Finalist Intel STS 2014 /
Outstanding Presentation at 2014 MAA Undergraduate Poster Session
Mentor: Francisco Unda, project by Jacob Fox
Bertrand Stone
Semifinalist Siemens 2013 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2014 / Honorable Mention for AMS Menger Award at Intel ISEF 2014
Mentor: Chiheon Kim, project by Pavel Etingof
2012
Matthew Babbitt
Semifinalist Intel STS 2013
Mentor: Jesse Geneson
Surya Bhupatiraju
Finalist Intel STS 2013
Mentor: Alex Arkhipov
Joshua Brakensiek
Outstanding Presentation at 2013 MAA Undergraduate Poster Session / Davidson Fellow 2013 / 2013 MathFest Pi Mu Epsilon Student Presentation Award Semifinalist Siemens 2013 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2014
Mentor: Aaron Potechin
Katherine Cordwell
Finalist Intel STS 2013 / First Award Intel ISEF 2013
Mentor: Teng Fei
Kevin Garbe
Finalist Intel STS 2013
Mentor: Dorin Boger
Simanta Gautam
Semifinalist Siemens 2012 / Second Award Intel ISEF 2013
Mentor: Dmitry Vaintrob
Gil Goldshlager
Semifinalist Siemens 2012 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2013
Mentor: Aaron Potechin
Jacob McNamara
Semifinalist Siemens 2012 / Davidson Fellow Honorable Mention 2013
Mentor: Dmitry Vaintrob
Charles Pasternak
Semifinalist Siemens 2012
Mentor: Matt Coudron
Lilly Shen
Semifinalist Siemens 2012 / Semifinalist Intel STS 2013
Mentor: Jesse Geneson
Kathleen Zhou
Semifinalist Intel STS 2013
Mentor: Teng Fei
2011
Rebecca Chen
Semifinalist Intel STS 2012 Regional Semifinalist Siemens Competition 2011
Mentor: Wenzhe Wei
Sitan Chen
3rd Prize ($40K) Siemens Competition 2011 2012 Davidson Fellow Laureate ($10K) Finalist Intel STS 2012
Mentor: Jesse Geneson
Sidharth Dhawan
Semifinalist Intel STS 2012
Mentor: Zachary Abel
Eric Mannes
Semifinalist Intel STS 2012
Mentor: Aaron Potechin
Matthew Rauen
Semifinalist Intel STS 2012
Mentor: Jesse Geneson
Adam H. Su
Semifinalist Intel STS 2012 Regional Semifinalist Siemens Competition 2011
Mentor: Benjamin Iriarte
2010
Wenyu Cao
Finalist Intel STS 2011
Mentor: Rosalie Beranger-Rioux
Randy Jia
Finalist Siemens Competition 2010
Mentor: John Lesieutre
2009
Tian-yi (Damien) Jiang
Regional Finalist Siemens Competition 2009
Mentor: Yan Zhang
Akhil Mathew
3rd Prize ($50K) Intel STS 2010
Project suggested by Pavel Etingof
Arjun Puranik
Regional Finalist Siemens Competition 2009
Mentor: Martina Balagovic; Project suggested by Pavel Etingof
Dennis Tseng
Regional Finalist Siemens Competition 2009
Mentor: Nan Li
Lynnelle Ye
2nd Prize ($50K) Siemens Competition 2009 and 4th Prize ($40K) Intel STS 2010
Mentor: Tirasan Khandhawit; Supervisor Tanya Khovanova
2008
Noah Arbesfeld
6th Place ($25K) Intel STS 2009
Mentor: David Jordan; Project suggested by Pavel Etingof
Eric Larson
1st Place ($100K) Intel STS 2009 and 2nd Place ($50K) Siemens Competition 2008
Mentor: David Jordan; Project suggested by Pavel Etingof
Max Rabinovich
Finalist Intel STS 2009
Mentor: Emmanuel Stoica; Project suggested by Pavel Etingof and supervised by David Jerison
Adam Sealfron
Finalist Intel STS 2009
Mentor: Victor Chen
2007
Benjamin Dozier
Finalist Intel STS 2008
Mentor: Cameron Freer
Qiaochu Yuan
Finalist Intel STS 2008
Mentor: Ryan Reich
2006
Harrison Chen
Regional Finalist Siemens Competition 2006
Mentor: Zuoqin Wang
Sana Raoof
1st Place (three-way tie; 1/3 of $175K) Intel ISEF 2008
Mentor: David Jordan
Dmitry Vaintrob
1st Place ($100K) Siemens Competition 2006 and 3rd Place ($50K) Intel STS 2007
Mentor: Aaron Tievsky; Project suggested by Pavel Etingof
2005
Kimberly Scott
10th Place ($20K) Intel STS 2006
Yi Sun
2nd Place ($75K) Intel STS 2006
2002
Steven Byrnes
1st Prize ($100K) Siemens Westinghouse 2002-2003
Mentor: Edward Early
1997
Christopher Mihelich
1st Prize ($40K) Westinghouse STS 1998
Mentor: Alexander Soloviev; Project suggested by Sergey Fomin
Travis Schedler
5th Prize ($15K) Westinghouse STS 1998
Mentor: Alexander Soloviev; Project suggested by Pavel Etingof