Prishaa Shrimali Named Grand Finalist at Regeneron ISEF 2026 for Quantum-Powered Urban Planning Research
Join Trial or Access Free ResourcesJoin Trial or Access Free ResourcesHer project on quantum-accelerated Steiner trees for 15-minute cities earned a place among the finalists at the world's largest pre-college STEM competition.
Prishaa Shrimali of Marymount School of New York, was selected as a Grand Finalist at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona. Her project was Optimizing Urban Accessibility: Quantum Acceleration of the Steiner Tree for the 15-Minute City (Project ID MATH037).
About Regeneron ISEF
Regeneron ISEF is the world's largest pre-college STEM competition. The 2026 fair ran from May 9 to 15 and brought together more than 1,700 young scientists, engineers and innovators from over 60 countries, regions and territories. Students earn their place by winning top honors at affiliated science fairs. Prishaa qualified through the Terra New York City STEM Fair, where she won first place in Mathematics.
The Research: Can Quantum Computing Help Build Better Cities?
The "15-minute city" is an urban planning vision in which essentials such as groceries, pharmacies and post offices are a short walk from home. Planning one means finding the most efficient network connecting many service locations. Mathematicians model this as a Steiner tree problem. It works well for small areas but becomes computationally intractable at metropolitan scale, especially with hundreds of service points.
Prishaa asked whether quantum algorithms could remove that barrier. She developed a hybrid quantum-classical framework that builds on the Miyamoto et al. quantum algorithm for the minimum Steiner tree problem and adds quantum shortest-path subroutines. It combines quantum parallelism, flow-state sparsification and quantum minimum finding with classical dynamic programming.
She tested it on a real-world case study, the Manhattan street network, across thousands of nodes and hundreds of service terminals. Her project reports:
The framework helps planners weigh accessibility, environmental impact and fairness together. The same approach could apply to other large combinatorial problems, such as supply chain management and telecommunications.
From Classical Roots to Quantum Ambition
Her quantum work grew out of earlier research on building 15-minute cities with classical Steiner tree approximation. That study used OpenStreetMap data and Manhattan's pedestrian network to evaluate access to essential services. The ISEF project asks what becomes possible at much larger scales.
Her Achievements
Project at a Glance
| Student | Prishaa Shrimali |
| School | Marymount School of New York |
| Project ID | MATH037 (Mathematics) |
| Competition | Regeneron ISEF 2026, Phoenix, AZ |
| Affiliated fair | Terra New York City STEM Fair |
| Recognition | Grand Finalist; AMS Karl Menger Memorial Award, Honorable Mention |
See the full listing on the official ISEF project page.
Congratulations, Prishaa
Reaching ISEF takes curiosity and persistence, and Prishaa brought both to a problem where mathematics, quantum computing and city planning meet. Congratulations on this achievement.
Her project on quantum-accelerated Steiner trees for 15-minute cities earned a place among the finalists at the world's largest pre-college STEM competition. Prishaa Shrimali of Marymount School of New York, was selected as a Grand Finalist at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona. Her project was Optimizing Urban Accessibility: […]
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