Friends Academy senior Julang Wang was one of 300 scholars worldwide to be named as a semifinalist in the prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search 2026.
His groundbreaking work, “Localized Metaresonators for Mid-Wave Infrared Spatial Light Modulators,” was selected from more than 2,600 projects entered by students at 826 high schools across 46 states, Washington, D.C., the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and 16 countries, including China. He is the first Friends Academy student to be named a Regeneron Science Talent Top 300 Scholar since Ethan Labelson in 2022.
Julang was recognized on Feb. 8 by Congressman Tom Suozzi, who feted all semifinal winners from Long Island’s 3rd Congressional District during a ceremony at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
“I didn’t really expect to be named as a scholar,” Julang says. “I just wanted to do innovative research that no one has ever done before.”
Julang sought and secured a lab-research opportunity last summer at MIT. During his time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he explored how mid-wave infrared light, which is not visible to the human eye, can be manipulated and enhanced by different metals and various patterns of openings cut into those metals for lightwaves to pass through.
His findings uncovered new insights that could potentially change how mid-wave infrared light is used to enhance medical imaging. “It could allow for high-resolution image-sensing to be done in a very compacted way,” he says. It could also enhance detection capabilities for new medicines and night-vision technology.
“His work is university level,” says Mrs. Rebecca Glavan (pictured above), a Middle and Upper School Science teacher at Friends Academy who leads the school’s Science Research Program. She helped Julang submit his findings to the Regeneron competition and received a Regeneron Teacher of Merit Award to coincide with his award.
“The thing I respect most about Julang,” she adds, “is his ability to think outside the box, his ability to focus, and his ability to come up with innovative solutions. He’s a great scientist who strives to be his best and make the world a better place.”
Julang transferred to Friends Academy as a sophomore. He says he fell in love with science that year after being exposed to challenging classes such as AP Physics and during summer learning opportunities at Harvard.
“The classes at Friends are much smaller than my previous school,” Julang says. “I definitely get more attention from my teachers here and I feel a connection with them. I was worried about not fitting in when I first came here because I started in 10th grade, when friend groups were already formed, but all the students are very nice.”
Julang’s academic advisor is Mrs. Jen Newitt, who isn’t just the Chair of the Upper School Science Department, she’s also the Upper School’s Assistant Principal — a scope that gives her insight into how all students are developing academically, socially, and emotionally.
“Julang presents himself with such humility that you wouldn’t know how brilliant he is unless you get him talking about his research,” she says. “I see him navigate school every day as a normal kid. And yet I have to step back in awe sometimes of the work that is going on in his brain to master this one little corner of science in such a spectacular way.”
It’s not a corner he plans to stay in for too long.
Julang doesn’t yet know where he’ll attend college, nor does he yet know what kind of science he’ll ultimately pursue, but he has a grand vision for the kind of work he wants to keep doing.
“The main thing I feel the most ambitious about is learning more about the world,” he says. “I find science inspiring because it gives me a way to describe physical and fundamental things so easily with math. And I just find that very intriguing.”
Forget the small slices of science; Julang prefers to think big and even take a philosophical approach about what might come next.
“Compared to the universe, my life represents just a brief period of time,” he says. “I want to see what changes I can make and what impact I can have on others during my journey. I am always questioning myself to see what I can do in the future to help others and make changes to society.”
Whatever the future holds, might there be an indelible takeaway from becoming a Regeneron scholar?
“It shows that consistent effort and curiosity pay off,” he says. “And those two things can make an impact. I love that.”
Lead photo by Alvin Caal / Friends Academy