Browse real student projects, abstracts, and awards.
ISEF · 2026
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
The rising cost and scarcity of conventional battery materials have accelerated the search for sustainable energy storage systems capable of operating in extreme environments. Seawater-activ…
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
Materials Science
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a leading cause of death and disability. Although the primary injury occurs at impact, long-term neurological damage results from secondary injury mechan…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, necessitating targeted therapeutic strategies. Curcumin, a natural compound, demonstrates anti-cancer…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry
L-citrulline is a nonessential a-amino acid involved in both the urea and nitric oxide cycles and is commonly used as a supplement to increase peripheral vasodilation. However, its high pola…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry
Accurate and rapid analysis of amino acids is essential for metabolomics and disease related biomarker studies. 19F NMR spectroscopy offers high sensitivity and no biological background sign…
ISEF · 2026
Materials Science
Coal-fired power plants still emit large amounts of CO2 and ash annually. To utilize this ash waste, studying applications of cenospheres found in fly ash is necessary. However, there are fe…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry
pH strips are widely employed for rapid and low-cost pH determination. However, their single-use design contributes significantly to global laboratory waste. Absorbent paper also results in…
ISEF · 2026
Chemistry
In this project, uniform Sized SPIONs of various sizes were synthesized in a reverse micelles system under aerial conditions. The variation in size was achieved by varying the loading of iro…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical Engineering
Optogenetics leverages genetically encoded, light-sensitive proteins to achieve high spatiotemporal resolution in cellular regulation. However, current chimeric proteins suffer from slow swi…
ISEF · 2026
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Electrochemical seawater splitting is one of the most promising methods for sustainable hydrogen production. However, its major challenge is the simultaneous chlorine evolution reaction (CER…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive motor neuron loss and limited therapeutic options due to its complex, multifactorial pa…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science
Endocrine therapy resistance affects ~40% of patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, limiting treatment efficacy and contributing to relapse. The Aryl Hydrocarbon Recep…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology
Biofilm formation is a major driver of antimicrobial resistance and persistent infections, particularly in medical device-associated settings. These structures protect bacteria from antibiot…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry
Glioma is an aggressive, life-threatening form of brain cancer with poor clinical outcomes. Despite decades of research, tumor-intrinsic mutations cannot explain disease progression alone. C…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology
Antibiotic resistance is a rising global health threat, causing over 5 million deaths worldwide annually. This is a particular concern in hospital settings where bacterial infections can spr…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Curricula shape how societies transmit knowledge, values, and collective memory. In the United States, textbook adoption occurs at the state level, producing variation in what students learn…
ISEF · 2026
Embedded Systems
HVAC systems account for approximately 40% of building energy consumption, with significant waste arising from conditioning unoccupied spaces. While occupant-centric HVAC systems improve eff…
ISEF · 2026
Software Design
Soil degradation affects over 1.7 billion people globally, yet long-term prediction of soil evolution remains fundamentally challenging because soil emerges from complex interactions among c…
ISEF · 2026
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory requires boreholes drilled 2,500 meters into the Antarctic ice sheet using a 5 megawatt hot water drill. During the first 66 minutes of drill startup insuffi…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Nicotine is a psychoactive substance, commonly delivered through e-cigarettes. In the short-term, nicotine can cause an individual to feel enhancements in attentiveness, while also reducing…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have differentiation and anti-inflammatory properties, making them effective treatments for diseases including diabetes and osteoarthritis that affect approxima…
ISEF · 2026
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Over 80 million people face loss of upper-limb function. Yet noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG) prosthetic hand interfaces are limited to cumbersome, binary control due to severe signal…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Artificial intelligence is transforming labor markets around the world, yet we do not completely understand its effects on individuals. Previous research has used aggregated data and proxies…
ISEF · 2026
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Globally, centralized grids leave 940 million people in low - income communities without reliable electricity access, while simultaneously contributing to climate change through carbon emiss…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Wildfire smoke increasingly impacts agricultural land, specifically in the PNW, yet the effects of seed exposure to smoke remain poorly understood. This study investigated the effects on pla…
ISEF · 2026
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Digital interfaces capture attention through combinations of persuasive elements, yet no framework explains why those combinations produce supra-additive cognitive load or characterizes the…
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
Translational Medical Science
Chemotherapy remains the foundation for cancer treatments but is limited by significant side effects resulting from its nonspecific cytotoxicity. In order to counteract this, delivery system…
ISEF · 2026
Biochemistry
The fidelity of DNA is essential for healthy cellular development and proliferation. Mismatched base pairs can arise because of polymerase errors or exposure to genotoxic chemicals. Mismatch…