An end to gridlock?

Mills Godwin High School senior Fareed Sheriff had a specific goal entering his final year as a high school student.

"I really wanted to go out with a bang," he said. "I wanted to end my high school career with a science project that I put my whole heart and soul into – basically my best work so far."

Sheriff found that success not only by creating a unique research project but also by being named one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the oldest and most prestigious STEM competition in the U.S.

The competition, geared toward high school seniors, has provided students with a platform to share their original scientific research projects since 1942, according to the Society for Science's website. These students are also provided with monetary awards to continue changing the world through science and mathematics.

Of 1,760 entrants from across the nation, 300 were named top scholars in early January. The top 40 finalists were announced on Jan. 21 in a press release from the society.

Sheriff began his project in early summer, and based it off a problem he encountered while out on a drive with his parents.

"They noticed that the traffic lights kept going red," Sheriff said. "We'd have a red traffic light, and they'd stop at it. Then the light would turn green, but the next traffic light would be red as well, and it just kept happening.

"That got a bit annoying, and I was wondering, 'Well, why does that happen? Why is that? Why do some people experience that while others might get completely straight traffic routes?"

From this idea came ELMOPP: Edge Load Management and Optimization through Pseudo-flow Prediction.

Over the summer, Sheriff researched traffic management algorithms, and realized they only focus on the real-time data. However, like a player in a chess match, he said that it makes more sense to plan future moves, not just the current one.

So using graph theory and linear algebra, as well as two algorithms that he later combined into a cumulative one, Sheriff created an algorithm that "could uniformly decrease the load across all roads.

"My cumulative algorithm used machine learning to predict future traffic based on past traffic patterns, and then used those predictions to further inform the algorithm to decide what the route would be the best option to gain the maximum amount of flow for each intersection," Sheriff said.

The idea was enough to earn him a spot among the most talented young scientists in the country. Sheriff and the rest of the finalists will participate in a virtual competition from March 11-17, during which they will vie for more than $1.8 million in awards.

Each finalist will be awarded at least $25,000, and the top 10 awards will range from $40,000 to $250,000, according to Regeneron.

“This year’s finalists represent many of our nation’s most promising young scientists," George D. Yancopoulus, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron, said in the release. "Even during a global pandemic, these students have been using their ingenuity, resourcefulness and STEM skills to work toward a better future.

"I can only hope that their STS experience helps further inspire them to take on and help solve some of the biggest challenges facing mankind, from climate change to disease and future pandemics."
Now that the competition is reaching its peak, Sheriff said that he wants his research to be proposed as an actual solution to traffic congestion.

"The first thing I'd like to see is for my project to get published,” he said. “There are definitely many improvements I could probably make on the project, and I'd like to get other people's input.”

Next, he hopes to see his algorithm used in real life.

"Taking Richmond as an example, I just want to see if it actually takes away these red waves, where people just keep stopping and starting at traffic lights," Sheriff said. "I want to see how it changes traffic, and whether or not it actually optimizes it, as expected."

As the competition draws nearer to a close, and Sheriff reaches the end of his high school career, he said he hopes to continue his scientific endeavors into college. He has applied to more 20 schools; his top choices are MIT, Stanford, and UVA.

"Wherever I go for college, I'd have to do some more research," Sheriff said. "I've done a lot of research over the past few years, and that's something I definitely would like to do more of in college. And then, I'm hoping to get my research published."