Browse 330 ISEF projects that won First Award, with abstracts and links to the original entries.
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics First Award
Agricultural pesticide use remains substantial, increasing chemical exposure, environmental burden, and production costs. U.S. farms spent $21.7 billion on agricultural chemicals in 2024. Be…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics First Award
Background: Rupture of cerebral aneurysm, an abnormal bulging of the arterial wall, can lead to brain hemorrhage and stroke. Endovascular surgical treatment is highly invasive and poses sign…
ISEF · 2026
Robotics and Intelligent Machines First Award
Wetland ecosystems play critical roles in maintaining biodiversity, regulating hydrological processes, and supporting carbon sequestration—functions that align closely with United Nations Su…
ISEF · 2026
Physics and Astronomy First Award
Efficient ion heating remains a major obstacle in magnetic fusion because radio-frequency waves often deposit too much of their energy into electrons rather than fuel ions. Existing ion-cycl…
ISEF · 2026
Embedded Systems First Award
3D scanning of microscopic objects currently relies on expensive laser scanning microscopes, that can be inefficient or unusable in scenarios requiring multi-angle views or the analysis of s…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical Engineering First Award
Vaping is a common habit and a widespread health issue that affects over 100 million people and has transformed into a youth epidemic, with teens being around nine times more likely than adu…
ISEF · 2026
Materials Science First Award
The pulp and paper industry drives massive deforestation and CO2 emissions, while 1.3 billion tonnes of biopolymer-rich food waste are discarded annually, representing a vast, untapped resou…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical Engineering First Award
Inaccurate malaria diagnosis in remote areas drives drug resistance and fatal treatments. Rapid tests miss the critical P. knowlesi, while standard Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) microscopes are…
ISEF · 2026
Robotics and Intelligent Machines First Award
Hyperspectral imaging enables simultaneous acquisition of spatial and spectral information and has become indispensable in applications including material characterization, environmental eng…
ISEF · 2026
Plant Sciences First Award
Citrus greening (Huanglongbing, HLB) is the most devastating citrus disease, causing a 75% production decline and billions in losses. Oxytetracycline (OTC), the only approved antibiotic, is…
ISEF · 2026
Software Design First Award
In the U.S., about 1 in 14 children has a communication disorder, and 1 in 4 children with speech disorders also experience social and emotional difficulties, making them twice as likely to…
ISEF · 2026
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics First Award
Approximately 11 million people in the U.S. experience severe hearing loss, yet most hearing individuals do not understand American Sign Language (ASL). HandTalk is a cost-effective interact…
ISEF · 2026
Technology Enhances the Arts First Award
Over 1 Billion people globally live with mental health conditions driving depression & suicide crises. Music therapy is a proven nonpharmacological approach for emotional regulation, yet acc…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology First Award
Fungal pathogens pose an enormous threat to global health, and a growing number of pathogens are developing resistance to our already limited arsenal of antifungals. Overexpression of efflux…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering First Award
Globally, pests destroy over 40% of crops annually. Traditional pesticides are highly harmful to the environment and human health, and current application methods—either wasteful mass sprayi…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences First Award
Tumor growth in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) – the most prevalent form of lung cancer, with a 5-year survival rate below 20% – is promoted by abnormal vasculature. Importantly, the mechanisms…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering First Award
Marine ecosystems are paramount to the planet's health, but they are threatened by human-introduced pollutants. In particular, microplastics have proven to be detrimental to aquatic wildlife…
ISEF · 2026
Animal Sciences First Award
Apis mellifera are essential pollinators, contributing to 80% of global food crop pollination and $183 billion annually to the global economy. However, around 40–50% of hives collapse annual…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences First Award
It's been hypothesized that carbonaceous chondrite meteorites can transport compounds crucial to planetary habitability. Meteorites generate hydrothermal systems through impact energy dissip…
ISEF · 2026
Software Design First Award
MANTIS is the first entirely computerized muon-based subsurface imaging system. Its goal is to deliver a fully non-invasive and remote method for underground imaging that eliminates the need…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry First Award
N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have emerged as excellent spectator ligands in homogeneous catalysis, especially in transfer hydrogenation reactions. Transfer hydrogenation, the reduction of…
ISEF · 2026
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design First Award
Installed wind power capacity has tripled in the last decade, motivating significant research in wind turbine performance optimization. Traditional optimization methods often evaluate blades…
ISEF · 2026
Materials Science First Award
Plastic recycling is limited by mis-sorting across polymer families and additives. Current identification methods, such as SPI resin codes, labels, and visible/near-infrared/Fourier Transfor…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences First Award
Dysregulated astrocytic Ca2+ signaling is a key driver of high-burden CNS disorders, including Alzheimer’s and stroke, yet existing neuromodulation strategies remain invasive and neuron-cent…
ISEF · 2026
Physics and Astronomy First Award
Origami and linkages are widely used across architecture, space engineering, and the natural world owing to their high interconnectivity, where a single input drives the entire mechanism. Bo…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry First Award
Obesity has increased to 1 in 8 people globally, causing dangerous comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Many obese adults, particularly in low socio-…
ISEF · 2026
Cellular and Molecular Biology First Award
Epilepsy affects over 50 million people, and one in three cannot stop their seizures with medication. Neuromodulatory therapies are the leading alternative, but development has been bottlene…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences First Award
Pedestrian-vehicle conflict at intersections is a major safety challenge, as conventional fixed-time traffic signals do not adapt to real-time pedestrian crossing behavior and drivers often…
ISEF · 2026
Mathematics First Award
An equation f(x)=a, where f is a complex meromorphic function and a is a parameter, is solvable in elementary functions if the inverse map x=f^{-1}(a) can be expressed as a finite compositio…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry First Award
6PPD is an antiozonant ubiquitously used in global tire manufacturing that reacts with ground-level ozone to form 6PPD-quinone (6PPDQ). 6PPDQ is a compound acutely lethal to coho salmon—a sp…