Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2026
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
The requirement for millikelvin refrigeration is a dominant barrier for scaling quantum computing and unlocking its potential for groundbreaking research across numerous fields. As qubits ar…
ISEF · 2026
Materials Science
Microbial contamination in healthcare and marine environments compromises safety and incurs billions in costs. To address this, a parametric study was conducted on eight cast Cu-Zn-Al-Sn all…
ISEF · 2026
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Wheelchair Paralympic athletes lose 25% of their training time collecting table tennis balls manually, causing fatigue and affecting their autonomy, performance and motivation. This is a glo…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science
Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by the loss of dopamine producing neurons. Many pathways involving mitochondrial dysfunction and synaptic function are involved in thi…
ISEF · 2026
Physics and Astronomy
Localized surface plasmons (LSPs) are collective oscillations of free electrons on metallic nanoparticles. By confining light into nanoscale volumes, LSPs generate strong electromagnetic nea…
ISEF · 2026
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Airway diseases are known for the excessive production of mucus and inflammatory levels. Nonetheless, most of the current literature has been on intracellular pathways rather than on the ext…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology
Chlamydia trachomatis (Ctr) causes over 130 million urogenital infections annually. Despite high genetic similarity, Chlamydia muridarum (Cm) exhibits different host tropism. Interspecies di…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
As we move into an era where AI agents are prevalent in many aspects of our lives, from solving scientific problems to acting as therapists, the world faces an unquantified risk. Every day,…
ISEF · 2026
Cellular and Molecular Biology
1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) in the US, and peripheral nerves are present in upwards of 85% of BC cases. Adrenergic signaling, regulated by stress neurotransmitters lik…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Additive manufacturing relies heavily on disposable plastic supports, which contribute to long-term environmental waste. This project investigated Sargassum polyphyllum, an invasive brown al…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry
Around 40.8 million people are living with HIV at the end of 2024 (World Health Organization, 2024). Around 630,000 deaths were due to HIV-related causes. These numbers highlight the need fo…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Biofilms are communities of microorganisms that aggregate and grow on microplastic (MP) surfaces. Bacterial proximity strengthens antibiotic-resistance through the dissemination of antibioti…
ISEF · 2026
Materials Science
Food spoilage causes over 1.3 billion tons of global waste annually, largely due to microbial growth. This project investigated whether a chitosan-based antimicrobial coating applied to 3D-p…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry
Traditional “best-before” dates on packaged meat are often rough estimates that do not take real storage conditions into account which can increase the risk of consuming spoiled food, posing…
ISEF · 2026
Materials Science
Over 62 million tonnes of electronic waste are generated yearly, a figure projected to reach 74 million by 2030, with electronic circuit failure as a leading cause. Such failure is especiall…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science
Modern vaccines are effective but often depend on complex formulations containing depot-forming adjuvants and stabilizing excipients. Emerging approaches such as neoantigen cancer vaccines a…
ISEF · 2026
Software Design
Multi-agent AI systems are increasingly prevalent in various fields ranging from autonomous drone systems to healthcare assistant robots. Achieving success in complex environments requires e…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) seriously affects the well-being of the patient and has been proposed as a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. While recent research has d…
ISEF · 2026
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Three in every ten people experience a gait injury in their lifetime, and two in ten people experience poverty. A lack of financial stability can cause insufficient treatment and potential w…
ISEF · 2026
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Clutch is a hybrid electrostatic dry adhesive climbing robot, and is a culmination of a research and development project. For the past few decades, researchers have been trying to replicate…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Braille literacy rates collapsed from over 50% four decades ago to under 10% today (National Federation of the Blind, 2020), driven by instructor shortages and fixed curricula unable to adap…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry
Metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive form of breast cancer, with a 5-year survival rate of 12%. Mesenchymal quadruple negative breast cancer (QNBC) is a mol…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science
Breast cancer progression is influenced by estrogen receptor signaling and tumor angiogenesis, yet the biological association between these pathways remains incompletely understood. The purp…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Alzheimer's disease and dementia present a global health crisis characterized by progressive cognitive decline that traditional pharmacology struggles to reverse. This study, "Cognitive Stim…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology
Bacterial biofilms in dairy processing equipment are difficult to sterilize and contribute to spoilage and significant economic losses. Cold plasma, which generates ions and free radicals ca…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Traffic is a universal phenomenon for humans leading to casualties, economic losses, and health problems. Interestingly, traffic has been observed in other species as well. For example, ants…
ISEF · 2026
Materials Science
Arsenic (As) is a known carcinogen, and its contamination of groundwater is a major global public health concern, with approximately 200 million people at risk of arsenic poisoning. Addressi…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of environmentally persistent contaminants widely detected in soil and water systems and associated with adverse human health effects.…
ISEF · 2026
Environmental Engineering
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are groups of persistent environmental contaminants that have been linked to adverse health effects, including immune system dysfunction and liver…
ISEF · 2026
Plant Sciences
OPIHI is a participatory science project where students survey the rocky intertidal, a unique coastal system in Hawai‘i connecting land and sea, to identify limu (algae) visually. Native lim…