Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
With 2.25 million tons of annual flame retardant production, phosphorus flame retardants cause aquatic ecosystem disruption and eutrophication. Agricultural waste disposal causes 6% of globa…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Coral bleaching is a harmful phenomenon where corals expel their symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae caused by global warming induced environmental stressors. Conservation efforts utilize p…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Climate change continues to disrupt agricultural systems, making crop yield forecasting a critical component towards enabling climate resilience in agriculture. This project aimed to deciphe…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Peatland fires are among the most detrimental types of fires toward global warming, and are capable of releasing 10 times more carbon per hectare into the atmosphere than typical forest fire…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Sub-Saharan Africa is vulnerable to variations in precipitation levels, as a large percentage of the population practices subsistence farming and most of their electricity is from hydropower…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Within bodies of water, a red tide is rising. Due to high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, algae tends to proliferate at high levels. These high levels of algae within bodies of water are…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Human activities have led to an alarming shift in the global climate and ecosystems. The scientific community had made various attempts to analyze and counteract climate change and environme…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Thermo-responsive hydrogels represent a promising advancement in sustainable water purification, as this research investigates PNIPAM-based hydrogels enhanced with silica, cellulose, and act…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) pose threats to aquatic ecosystems and public health, yet existing prediction models rely on single-variable correlative thresholds that fail to ca…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Acid rain, microplastics, road salt, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among the most harmful pollutants affecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Acid rain forms when sulfur dio…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
AtmosNano: Development of a Low-Cost CubeSat Platform for Real-Time Atmospheric Monitoring Altynay Otetileu NIS, Turkistan, Kazakhstan Flooding affects millions of people annually, yet accur…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The ocean absorbs 25-30% of anthropogenic CO2, serving as a critical carbon sink. This sink property self-limits under increasing atmospheric CO2 due to accumulation of hydrogen ions (acidif…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Individuals spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, so maintaining a good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is important. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is an essential component of IAQ, as t…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This study investigated the accumulation of heavy metals in lichens as bioindicators of air quality in southern Puerto Rico. The objective was to evaluate whether proximity to industrial act…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Mixed deciduous forests are biodiversity-rich ecosystems that support wildlife habitat and ecological balance. Their restoration has become an urgent environmental priority due to deforestat…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Coral reefs are the world’s most vital marine ecosystems, producing 50% of the world’s oxygen and sustaining the livelihoods of 1 billion people globally. However, coral bleaching, a phenome…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lead toxicity is an important environmental issue and a major global challenge, particularly in developing countries where water contamination can pose serious health risks. Heavy metals con…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Polyfluoroalkyl substances are present in 45% of U.S. drinking water, threatening human and environmental health due to their high polarity and persistence. Trifluoroacetic acids (TFAs), a t…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Fracking is the process of extraction through injection of liquids containing chemicals at high pressures to force open pre-existing fissures. Surfactants provide a protective layer for the…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Harmful algal blooms caused by cyanobacteria have become a growing global concern due to their release of potent toxins, one of which includes microcystin (MC-LR). This toxin threatens drink…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Long-term rainfall prediction in the Brazilian semi-arid region remains a significant challenge for conventional meteorological systems. These systems are often expensive and inaccurate at l…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
In the past 20 years, flooding has been the most common natural disaster worldwide, accounting for 43% of all recorded events, and causing tremendous loss of life and property. The North Car…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Access to safe drinking water remains a pressing global challenge, with millions exposed to heavy-metal contamination each year. At the same time, fertilizer runoff degrades water quality th…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This project aimed to investigate the impact of avian influenza (H5N1) on wild bird behavioral patterns in Iowa over the years 2022-2025. The hypothesis was “If wild birds are contaminated w…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Over 75,000 wildfires occurred in North America in 2025. Smoke and ash from these fires contribute to both air and water pollution. Over 5,000 of these wildfires impacted the Great Lakes as…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Natural resources worldwide, especially in coastal areas such as the Aunu'u wetlands of American Samoa, are threatened by salinity. Adaptive management strategies primarily require considera…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This investigation examined whether untreated sargassum and sargassum treated with a wax coating can function as efficient absorbents of hydrocarbons in seawater. The research question guidi…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This study investigates the unique, continuous upwelling flow lines at the river-sea boundary in Isfjorden, Arctic. To elucidate the mechanism behind this previously undocumented phenomenon,…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Wildfire response depends on three tasks that currently operate in isolation: detecting fires, forecasting where they will spread, and deciding where to send crews. Existing detection relies…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) is the largest band of precipitation in the Southern Hemisphere stretching from the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) to French Polynesia. The WPWP c…