Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Continuous water quality monitoring is critical for safeguarding aquatic ecosystems, informing environmental management decisions, and supporting public health. However, conventional systems…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Single-use paper items used in food packaging like straws and food wrappers are often coated with plastic or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals") to make them…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
This experiment explores the regenerative properties of activated carbon as a filter for PFAS in water when combined with microwave-activated magnetite. PFAS refers to a family of over 14,00…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Indoor pools pose an under-monitored public health risk, as chloramines, formed from chlorine reacting with swimmer-derived compounds, accumulate in air and are linked to asthma and respirat…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Purpose: The world loses billions of trees each year, and current reforestation efforts cannot keep pace. Drone-based seed planting has emerged as a promising solution, with current systems…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Global lithium demand is projected to increase by nearly 4000% by 2040 due to expansion of electric vehicles and energy storage systems; however, current extraction methods are water-intensi…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Coastal erosion poses a significant threat to Louisiana's ecosystems, infrastructure, and communities, with land loss occurring at one of the highest rates in the United States. This study i…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Non-Polar Organic Contaminants (NPOCs) such as Micro/Nano-sized Microplastics (MNMPs), oils and Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene, Xylene (BTEX) are emerging contaminants that are critical thr…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Every year, approximately 400 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide, yet only 9% is recycled. Meanwhile, heavy metal contamination of water poses significant risks to human health,…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
The City of Lake Charles is located about 20 miles north of the Gulf Coast and is named after the lake to its west. The city is the hub of a major petrochemical industry. The lake is connect…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Marine oil spills release toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other compounds that harm organisms and bioaccumulate across food chains. Meanwhile, conventional remediation primarily r…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
This study developed a high-performance poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) piezoelectric membrane using the Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) method combined with graphene doping, wi…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
This Project aimed to improve the efficiency and viability of fog nets using corona discharge. Corona discharge is created when an electric field ionizes the surrounding air. This process al…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Brazil accounts for 70% of global passion fruit production (736,000 tons per year). However, 75% of this production becomes waste. Due to inadequate management, this waste can generate signi…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Airborne microplastics are an emerging environmental and public health concern, with recent studies suggesting that humans may inhale up to 70,000 particles daily. These polymer particulates…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Dependence on fossil fuels is driving climate change and environmental damage, creating an urgent need for cleaner alternatives. Hydrogen, as a sustainable and carbon-free fuel, offers a pro…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Membrane fouling is a major limitation in crossflow filtration systems, hindering productivity, cost-effectiveness, and outcome-centered performance. This study tested whether a crossflow fi…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Globally, 2 billion people rely on contaminated sources for drinking water. However, health interventions face a recurring issue: systems may be effective and accessible, yet fail to actuall…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
The purpose of this experiment was to find an alternative to commercial concrete and determine if results from a previous experiment were due to chance or size of the aggregate. Concrete ext…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
The purpose is to eliminate microplastic (MPs) from cattle feed by improving the extraction device from last year to remove MPs from cattle (bovine) feed using dry removal. It was hypothesiz…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Lithium is essential for rechargeable batteries, and demand is rising rapidly due to E-mobility and clean energy growth. About 66% of the world's lithium is produced through brine pond evapo…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
The material use of shade balls has become an area of concern in recent years. The water used in the production of shade balls and other water covers often offsets the water that is retained…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Approximately 2.7 billion tons of red mud waste from the aluminum industry are stockpiled worldwide, and nearly 1.5 million tons of glass-fiber waste are generated annually. In alignment wit…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
With approximately 4.4 billion people worldwide lacking access to safe water, sustainable purification technologies that operate efficiently under natural sunlight are necessary. Industrial…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
In Iraq, reliance on fossil fuels and improper waste disposal methods led to Iraq having an AQI of between 65-90, and studies in local universities stated that if nothing changes in the futu…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
The rapid increase in agricultural production produces waste that is subject to discarding, burning, and burying, causing severe environmental harm. However, a variety of eco-friendly method…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Aquatic hypoxic “dead zones,” where dissolved oxygen levels drop to critical levels, are becoming more frequent due to pollution and climate change. These conditions threaten aquatic life, r…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Mitigating climate change requires carbon dioxide removal, but conventional Direct Air Capture is prohibitively expensive. A scalable alternative is distributed, passive capture: embedding C…
ISEF · 2025
Environmental Engineering
Recognizing formaldehyde’s significant health risks and prevalence in the environment, particularly the indoors, this study presents a cost-effective and size-flexible integrated system for…
ISEF · 2025
Environmental Engineering
This year’s engineering project puts a focus on improving the BioRegen prototype which is a biopolymer that is completely derived from waste materials that fully biodegrades in natural envir…