Regeneron and Rockets: Aiden Sanxhaku Senior Spotlight

What was your preparation/research leading up to the Regeneron Science Talent search? 

I've been doing research for two years now, and I'll be closing it in three years. I started by doing a laboratory experience program in my sophomore year. It was called Penn LENS. Essentially, 13 people were selected and they got introduced to a couple of labs at Penn and thankfully I got really into what one of the labs was doing. I asked them a lot of questions and they offered an internship for the remainder of that sophomore summer, and then I came back the next year after that for the internship. Then after that, I was working full time, this summer at that same lab, so my experience has entirely been with that lab at the end. I'm just grateful to have been exposed to that.

Can you tell us about your project and what you learned from it? 

My project is on something called an aqueous redox flow battery, which is kind of the same thing as the lithium ion batteries that power your phones and computers. Instead of having solid electrodes that store charge, they have electrolyte solutions—like metal and water. These are really cool because these batteries are very scalable. For example, if we're looking to power cities and countries with renewable energy, you need batteries that are expected to scale up. What I did was I developed a series of electrolyte additives that, when supplemented into the battery, are able to lower resistance. What that essentially means is that I picked out a couple of metal compounds, put them into the solution, and effectively they're able to lower the repulsion between the charge carrying molecule and the battery’s electrode, allowing for faster transfer of charge. That allows us to use these iron-based redox flow batteries that are very cheap, and very scalable, in a manner that can match the  efficiency standard needed for commercialization.

What was the most challenging part of this competition for you?

Regeneron is something you apply to in November of your senior year. The first challenging part is that you're doing college applications at the same time so it gets a little overbearing at times. Then after you apply, you don't really do much until they release first the top 300 and then the top 40, and then now in March, in two weeks, I'm going to the national competition for the top 40 people selected. Then that's where things are going to kind of kick off. I guess I really haven't gotten to like the really challenging part yet, but, so far, it's been really similar to applying to college.

How have you learned to manage clubs, sports, and school?

 A lot of it is just, you know, doing what you love and having fun. Obviously, I'm doing it with my friends and stuff like that. I'm doing something I'm interested in, so it never really became like a chore or a job, so I was just having fun. 

Who has inspired you the most through your time at Masterman?

There was a senior last year. His name was Tino Karakousis. He did a lot of stuff, but I guess what kind of inspired me about him was that not only did he do a lot, but he was also a very charismatic and personable guy. I think that kind of just inspired me to not only go all out for these activities, but also just be a nice person, talk to people, and have fun.

What led you to start the Physics and Engineering For All (PhEFA) club at Masterman?

PhEFA as a club first started to spread physics as we didn't have any physics clubs at the time.  At first, we just talked about physics, but then people wanted to do more competitions. We discovered rocketry. The club came together, and we locked in like a month before the competition actually happened. We launched our rocket last year in March and since then we've just been trying to provide that opportunity to other people who are interested in it.

What do you plan to do after high school? What are your plans in college?

In college I'd love to continue research. I'd like to engage with a lot of high school competitions that happened through colleges. For example, Penn hosts their own Science Olympiad competition. I'd love to help schedule those events, particularly for things like rocketry. After college, I want to finish my bachelor's, then get a PhD and then kind of go fully into research. 

What is your favorite memory from Masterman? What is your favorite tradition?

My favorite memory is last year's rocketry launch. It was a half day at school, so it was me and like five, six other guys. We actually hadn't launched the rocket before that. We had just ordered parts off Amazon. Majority of the rocket was cardboard and explosive things, so there was a little bit of worry on whether or not it was even going to launch. We drove out to a field and then we ran into a state trooper that said we couldn't launch the rocket there. We decided to go to another field that was like 30 minutes away. It was all really hectic, but then once we actually got to the field to set it up and launch it was all worth it.

What is a skill that you learned in high school that will stick with you forever?

Don't take classes at 7:30 AM. Classes this year have been kind of rough, especially with orchestra and basketball practices in the morning. Some of my hardest classes I take really early in the morning. So taking early classes is something I'm going to try to avoid next year. 

What are you looking forward to doing this summer before college?

I'm looking forward to relaxing. I'm planning to go to Albania with my family. That's where my family's from. I'm gonna go there, see family, relax a little bit before the year starts.