Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The purpose of this experiment was to see if there is a correlation between the Kp Index and the error magnitude of GPS readings with and without WAAS capability. Our hypothesis was that the…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences Fourth Award
Wetlands are important wildlife habitats, but are severely threatened and need to be preserved and restored. This study developed a powerful, low-cost, and reusable methodology to assess avi…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The southern pine beetle (SPB), Dendroctonus frontalis, is one of the most destructive organisms to pine forests in the southeastern United States. The preferred host of SPB's include that o…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
GenX is a perfluorinated compound that has been contaminating the Cape Fear River, NC for over 20 years. Environmental contaminants like GenX often accumulate in tissues of aquatic organisms…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Dreissena polymorpha, commonly known as the Zebra Mussel, is a highly invasive species of bivalve. D. polymorpha has been responsible for the alteration of natural American waterways and the…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Our area is very agriculturally centered and various chemicals find their way into our water affecting our drinking water. Hastings, Nebraska will soon have to deal with a large plume of nit…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
On the Kalaupapa Peninsula, coastal salt spray vegetation transitions from shorter, predominantly native plants near the shoreline, to taller Christmas berry (Schinus terebinthifolius) furth…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
In this project I wanted to conduct research to see if wood-fire smoke had an effect on the growth of farm crops. In many regions, there is a fire season that puts a large amount of wood smo…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The purpose of this experiment was to scientifically look at the effects of sodium on greenery in nature. This project has 3 experiments: the first using beans, the second using algae (chlor…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
As climate patterns change and more pollutants enter the environment, many devastating natural disasters wreak havoc on communities and the ecosystems around them. One such disaster is harmf…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Phytoplankton are vital organisms serving as a biological carbon pump, removing approximately ten trillion kilograms of carbon from the atmosphere annually. Nitrogen and phosphorus are two n…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The laws of thermodynamics and Stokes’ Law with Cunningham Slip Correction Factor are used to support an updated atmospheric climate change model to include the effect of wildfire smoke ash…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
A decline in photosynthetic rates of zooxanthellae due to heightened ocean temperatures decreases the energy produced by the algae for the coral, leading to an expulsion of zooxanthellae fro…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
By 2050, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish (Parker, 2018a). This inspired me to research the mealworm as a possible solution to the global plastic problem. My goal was to de…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Tsunamis are often tragic events, killing thousands at a time and striking abruptly from distant locations. Two tsunamis in the last six months killed thousands of people with no warning. Cu…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Diagenesis is the compositional change in geologic samples such as fossils, which are often used to date significant geological events in their vicinity. Fossilized dentin from teeth can und…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
How does topography impact the formation, size and strength of a tornado? In order to better understand how a tornado changes when it travels across different land masses a small-scale torna…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Glaciers have exhibited increased melting rates due to rising global temperatures resulting from climate change. To track the effects of climate change on glacial mass balance, the equilibri…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
On regional and global levels, pollution from highways and industrial activities are major sources of environmental damage. Phytoremediation is the process of rehabilitating the quality of s…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This study provides an assessment of the overall water quality of Gulpha Creek and three distinct points of concern within the watershed. It was hypothesized that water quality would be poor…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences Third Award
Due to growing interest in reusing grey water to combat drought, soapnuts, a natural berry shell, were studied for the past four years to see if its greywater could be used to irrigate lawns…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The estimation of bioindication (BI) of large ecosystems is a subject of great interest for various organizations managing such systems after destructive events - fires, floods, eruptions, t…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
“Celtic” tribes of the La Tène culture inhabited a considerable part of Europe in the Late Iron Age (ca 500–40 BC), which indicates the necessity of the existence of certain trade mechanisms…
ISEF · 2019
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Ground level ozone is one of the most abundant forms of air pollution worldwide. Ozone is regulated by the EPA because of its negative health effects, such as premature aging of lungs and di…
ISEF · 2018
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The phenomenon of the Sailing Stones refers to grinding tracks in the clay with stones at their end. The most common place showing this phenomenon is the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley Cali…
ISEF · 2018
Earth and Environmental Sciences Fourth Award
Noctiluca scintillans, a dinoflagellate species, has a unique capability as a mixotroph to both photosynthesize and feed on organic nutrients. This behavior has allowed it to persist in the…
ISEF · 2018
Earth and Environmental Sciences Third Award
Nitrophenols (Nphs), a chemical used for synthesizing in pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and other industries, is a major source of water pollution. Due to population growth, the usage…
ISEF · 2018
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Purpose: To determine the effects of location, weather, and time of year on small and large air particles in a quantitative analysis. Procedure: Download Dylos software to record data with l…
ISEF · 2018
Earth and Environmental Sciences Fourth Award
In the past decade, Cookeville’s population has grown by 11%. This rate of urbanization will prove to be harmful to local infrastructure and watersheds. Thus, I wanted to investigate its imp…
ISEF · 2018
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Renewable wind energy shows promise for other uses beyond electricity for homes. This project proposes a method that will utilize the electricity generated by a wind turbine to move a water…