CSEF projects, 2002–2026

Every California Science & Engineering Fair project Fairfolio holds: 17,387 entries across 24 years, with the abstract, category and awards the fair published for each one.

CSEF coverage: available historical abstracts for 2002–2019; award-listed projects only for 2021–2025, without abstracts and with explicit labels where titles were not published, except that most 2023 winners carry the abstract from CSEF's archived public showcase; public showcase abstracts for 2026. The 2020 fair was canceled.

Years

Category breakdown

Counts cover every year of this fair and use its own category labels, exactly as the source published them. Each one links to that category's CSEF projects.

Projects

17387 projects · showing 7321–7350

CSEF · 2013

Expressions

Behavioral & Social Sciences

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this project is to determine is smiling more "contagious" than yawning. Methods/Materials 1. Obtain permissions slips from teacher for class testing 2. Make v…

CSEF · 2013

Extinguishing Fire Using Sound Energy

Physics & Astronomy

Objectives/Goals The objective is to duplicate the results achieved by DARPA in their developmental experiment to extinguish fire using sound energy. Our goal for this experiment is to furth…

CSEF · 2013

Fall Factor: Testing the Forces Resulting from Lead Climbing Falls

Applied Mechanics & Structures

Objectives/Goals To find the forces resulting from lead climbing falls and to find an effective way to reduce these forces. Methods/Materials Materials: #50 meter long, 10.8 mm diameter clim…

CSEF · 2013

Faraday's Second Law of Electrolysis

Chemistry

Objectives/Goals Objectives/Goals: The purpose of my project is to investigate and verify Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis. also this investigation will manipulate the following factors:1.Time…

CSEF · 2013

Feast or Famine: An Observational Study on the Effects of Varying Food Levels on a Drosophila hydei Colony's Success

Zoology

Objectives/Goals The objective was to determine which food level would result in the most successful Drosophila hydei colony. It was hypothesized that the colony which receives the largest a…

CSEF · 2013

Fecal Coliform: A Study of Water Contamination in the San Lorenzo River

Microbiology (General)

Objectives/Goals Our goal is to identify and measure the presence of fecal coliform bacteria in the San Lorenzo River, with collected data to be used to answer our investigative questions: O…

CSEF · 2013

Fertilizer and Water

Plant Biology

Objectives/Goals My objective was to determine how different types of water (tap vs. distilled) and fertilizer (organic vs. inorganic) affected plant growth. Methods/Materials Experiment was…

CSEF · 2013

Fertilizer Faceoff

Plant Biology

Objectives/Goals I wanted to see which was more beneficial to plants-commercial or homemade fertilizer Methods/Materials Materials: 15 butter lettuce plants Unfertilized soil 15 pots Miracle…

CSEF · 2013

Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Ratio in Plants

Plant Biology Honorable_mention Award

Objectives/Goals Many scientists believe that certain plants have a Fibonacci number of spirals in a golden ratio phyllotaxis (the arrangement of leaves on a stem) because the limit of two c…

CSEF · 2013

Field Study of Carbon Dioxide Concentration Variability in Los Angeles County

Environmental Science

Objectives/Goals My project objective is to compare the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations at different times of the day in different locations of Los Angeles (LA) County. Th…

CSEF · 2013

Findings from the Field Yr2: Cont. Study of Pervious Materials in LID Project at Riv.Co. Flood Control/H2O Conserv. Dist

Environmental Engineering (Junior Division Only) Fourth Award

Objectives/Goals Year 1 I designed an experiment to determine if oil inhibits water flow through porous materials by studying the infiltration rates of H(2)O with soybean oil (nontoxic proxy…

CSEF · 2013

Finding the Correlation Between Impulsivity and a Student's GPA

Cognitive Science (Junior Division Only)

Objectives/Goals A large population of students in the nation with impulsivity disorders are thought of to be less intelligent, or not as successful in academics- but, there is no proof of t…

CSEF · 2013

Fingerprints: Similarities in Families

Mammalian Biology

Objectives/Goals The objective was to find out if fingerprints have more of a correlation between parents and their children or siblings and each other. Hypothesis: They are more similar bet…

CSEF · 2013

Floating Needles

Chemistry

Methods/Materials I found that my hypothesis was correct. The densities of the liquids do relate to the surface tension; the denser the liquid, the greater the surface tension. For example,…

CSEF · 2013

Follow the Light: Maximizing Solar Cell Efficiency

Alternative Energy (Junior Division Only) Second Award

Objectives/Goals One of solar energy's setbacks is its efficiency. A solar cell only obtains its full energy potential when the sun is directly above it. Based on the speed of earth's rotati…

CSEF · 2013

Football: Coming to a Crashing Halt

Applied Mechanics & Structures Third Award

Objectives/Goals Over 300,000 sports related, traumatic brain injuries are reported yearly in the U.S.A. alone. Most of these injuries are because of receiving one or more blows to the head,…

CSEF · 2013

Forest Recovery after Logging

Environmental Science

Objectives/Goals My objective was to measure the distribution of tree sizes in a secondary-growth Redwood forest to see if topography affects the distribution. I also used the distribution o…

CSEF · 2013

Foundations Under Us

Applied Mechanics & Structures

Objectives/Goals What I am going to do is test to see what is the best foundation of all the ones I chose which were Pier Style, Pad Style and Tri-pod Style, and how much weight will destroy…

CSEF · 2013

Four Eyes AND 4.0 GPA? The Study of Whether People with Glasses Are Perceived to be More Intelligent and Less Attractive

Behavioral & Social Sciences Honorable_mention Award

Objectives/Goals The experiment was performed to evaluate, through a survey, if individuals who wear glasses appear to be more intelligent but less attractive. The expectations were that peo…

CSEF · 2013

FPGA-Based Digital Controller for High Frequency Induction Heating

Electronics & Electromagnetics Second Award

Objectives/Goals The goal of this project was to design a prototype induction heating system utilizing a digital control loop implemented on a FPGA. This would replace the analog phase-locke…

CSEF · 2013

Fractal Antennas: Fractal Geometry and Wireless Networks

Electronics & Electromagnetics

Objectives/Goals Through our project, we wanted to measure the effectiveness of increasing the number of iterations of a fractal in a fractal antenna and the wireless signal reception streng…

CSEF · 2013

From Crap to Zap: Using the Microbial Fuel Cell to Extract Electricity from Waste

Alternative Energy (Junior Division Only)

Objectives/Goals This experiment uses mud taken from streams as a substitute for wastewater, and compares the amount of electricity produced from the different streams. Methods/Materials Fiv…

CSEF · 2013

From Fields to Fuels: A Comparison of Energy Content of Biodiesels Made from Waste Vegetable Oils

Chemistry Second Award

Objectives/Goals This project compares the energy content of biodiesels produced from different kinds of waste vegetable oils (soybean, canola, and corn). It was hypothesized that waste cano…

CSEF · 2013

From Mealworm to Darkling Beetle: Does UV-C Radiation Have a Mutagenic Effect?

Pharmacology/ Toxicology Fourth Award

Objectives/Goals To determine whether beetles of mealworms irradiated with UV-C rays will have a higher percentage of mutated beetles than that of non-irradiated mealworms. Methods/Materials…

CSEF · 2013

From Waste Heat to Electricity: Synthesis and Analysis of a New Zintl Phase Compound for Thermoelectric Power Generation

Chemistry

Objectives/Goals Thermoelectric materials can turn a temperature gradient to electricity. However, to be efficient they need high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity. A clas…

CSEF · 2013

Fruit Flies In Hot, Cold, and Room Temperature

Zoology

Objectives/Goals The objective of my project is to find the effect of temperature on the development time of a Drosophila melanogaster. My hypothesis is that as the temperature increases the…

CSEF · 2013

Fuel and Fire: Analyzing Tomorrow's Power

Chemistry Fourth Award

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment is to see the differences in burning time, caloric energy, and carbon emissions of gasoline, diesel, and ethanol. Methods/Materials Materials:…

CSEF · 2013

Fungus Busters: Which Antifungal Agent Is the Most Effective?

Product Science (Biological) (Junior Division Only) Second Award

Objectives/Goals Fungal infections such as athlete#s foot, ringworm, and jock itch are very common problems. To counteract these infections, one must use antifungals. There are many differen…

CSEF · 2013

Games in Brains

Behavioral & Social Sciences

Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to determine if there was a correlation between violent video games a person plays and how they behave. Methods/Materials My hypothesis was t…

CSEF · 2013

Garlic Keeps Bacteria Away

Microbiology (Medical) (Junior Division Only)

Objectives/Goals The objective is to determine if raw garlic or boiled garlic is more effective in inhibiting the growth of E. coli. Methods/Materials Four test tubes containing 10 ml of mil…