Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair
2024 Awards

On behalf of our Sponsors, Board, and Staff, the Minnesota Academy of Science congratulates all student presenters for their excellent research and presentations in the 2024 state competition!

This year, 357 students from across Minnesota were selected at Regional Science Fairs to compete at the Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair. Over forty companies and organizations awarded more than $22,000 in cash prizes and other awards, gifts, and opportunities. Additionally, top projects advanced to the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair. See below for more information about each award and the 2024 award winners.

Scroll down to learn more about this year’s awards!

Minnesota Academy of Science Awards

Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Award 

The Regeneron ISEF Award recognizes up to four of the fair’s top high school projects. The 2024 ISEF is scheduled to take place May 11-17 in Los Angeles, California. ISEF is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition. More than 1,700 high school students from 70+ countries and territories showcase their research at ISEF.

2024 Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair ISEF Finalists

HS-ENBM-245 - Fernanda Arreola-Lucio (Shorewood), Like finding a needle in a blood sac! Novel creation of Gelatinous Microneedle Adhesive (Gel MNA) polymerized with methacrylic anhydride, fibrinogen, and zeolite coagulation agents to eliminate axial body frame hemorrhage

HS-ROBO-325 - Finn Cairns (Minneapolis), ViABL: Visual Assistant for the Blind with VLMs

HS-ROBO-294 - Noah Getnick (Bloomington) & Evan Johnstone (Minneapolis), Collision-Free Commutes: Designing a Blind Spot Detection System for Cyclists Using an Ultrasonic Sensor and Computer Vision

HS-BMED-207 - Corinne Moran (Minneapolis), Deciphering DUX4 (Year II): Is transient expression of the DUX4 gene sufficient to cause muscular dystrophy?

2024 ISEF Alternates
HS-EBED-244 - Rishi Bhargava (Mendota Heights) & Humza Murad (Inver Grove Heights), Project WASP: Atmospheric Water Capture for Autonomous Sustainable Agriculture in Freshwater Scarce Regions

HS-BMED-201 - Kyra Martin (Excelsior), The effect of ubiquitination deubiquitinases on breast cancer metastasis

HS-CBIO-205 - Deling Chen (North Oaks), A Novel Electrocardiogram-Based Model for Prediction of Dementia—the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study

HS-ENEV-259 - Milan Mishra (Minneapolis), Usage of a Convolutional Neural Network in Drone-Based Algae Bloom Monitoring

Grand Awards

The Grand Awards recognize excellence in STEM research at the middle school and high school level. The top 5% of projects presented at SSEF receive the Gold Award. The next 10% of projects receive the Silver Award and the next 15% of projects receive the Bronze Award. Projects are ranked according to judge scores and the competitiveness of the category in which students present. 

Gold Award

High School
HS-PLNT-270 - Quinn Hughes (Mound), Mars or Bust! A Method to Build a Martian Regolith-Based Substrate for Sustainable Agriculture on Mars
HS-SOFT-334, Bora Mandic (St. Paul), SignalGrab: A Machine Learning Approach to Helping Color Blind Drivers
HS-MATS-070 - Rathan Duggirala (Rochester), A Novel Approach to Synthesis of Biopaint in Toto; Analysis of Spectral Trends and Comparison to Commercial Paints
HS-CHEM-215 - Alyssa Wang (Woodbury), Development of Novel Biodegradable Bioplastics Using Mango Peels Intended for Packaging Film
HS-ROBO-325 - Finn Cairns (Minneapolis), ViABL: Visual Assistant for the Blind with VLMs
S-ETSD-310 - Maximus Ren (Minneapolis), A New High-Impedance-Fault Detection Method to Prevent Power-Line-Induced Wildfires
HS-ENBM-245 - Fernanda Arreola-Lucio (Shorewood), Like finding a needle in a blood sac! Novel creation of Gelatinous Microneedle Adhesive (Gel MNA) polymerized with methacrylic anhydride, fibrinogen, and zeolite coagulation agents to eliminate axial body frame hemorrhage

Middle School
MS-MATS-295 - Agustin Orezzoli Robinson (St. Paul), Best Model Airplane Material
MS-ENBM-093 - Samuel Kaspar (Rochester), Transforming Radiology Patient Experiences using Cloud Machine Learning
MS-BMED-184 - Saee More (Minneapolis), The Fight Against Cardiovascular Disease
MS-BCHM-109 - Momo Hitosugi (Rochester), How much sugar is on different fruits?
MS-CHEM-156 - Olivia Zhou (Eden Prairie), Growing Marshmallows
MS-EBED-037 - Dominik Fortin & Aleksander Kokotovich (Savage), Pickup Game Starter (PUG)
MS-BEHA-130 - Colleen Mahr (Rochester), Do 7th graders have motor dexterity comparable to that of practicing surgeons?
MS-BMED-122 - Aditi Sriram (Rochester), How Does Motion Artifact Affect the Accuracy of a Photoplethysmogram

Silver Award

High School
HS-EBED-244 - Rishi Bhargava (Mendota Heights) & Humza Murad (Inver Grove Heights), Project WASP: Atmospheric Water Capture for Autonomous Sustainable Agriculture in Freshwater Scarce Regions
HS-ROBO-287 - Emily Zhou (Woodbury), The Tom and Jerry Algorithm for Nonholonomic robots: Optimized and adaptive path planning and dynamic obstacle avoidance based on A* and mathematical predator and prey insights for real-life simulations
HS-ENBM-218 - Michael Setterberg (Minneapolis) & Charlotte Vasicek (St Louis Park), Refining the Ring: Engineering Nanobodies for a Faster Path to CSAN Cancer Immunotherapy
HS-EGSD-212 - Yash Dagade (Eden Prairie), SkyWindFarm Harnessing High Altitude Wind Power in a Scalable Manner
HS-ENEV-264 - McKinley Garner (Minneapolis), The Effectiveness of Aspergillus niger as a Remedy to Microplastic-Contaminated Soil
HS-TMED-328 - Shreshth Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), AccuCellAI: A transformative tool for diagnosing and classifying hematological diseases using convolutional neural networks that demonstrates improved speed, accuracy, and transportability
HS-MATS-148 - Lara Granucci (Shorewood), Characterization of starch-based films by mechanical properties and compostability testing: An exploration of the economic feasibility of manufacturing starch-based films on an industrial scale
HS-ROBO-294 - Noah Getnick (Bloomington) & Evan Johnstone (Minneapolis), Collision-Free Commutes: Designing a Blind Spot Detection System for Cyclists Using an Ultrasonic Sensor and Computer Vision
HS-MATS-055 - Adam Jacobson & Paige Jacobson (Grand Rapids), Fantastic Bioplastic
HS-ENEV-266 - Tyler Clair (Excelsior), Food waste-based biocoagulants: A novel approach to sustainably remove polystyrene microplastics for future alternatives in water treatment
HS-EAEV-186 - Jos Buffington (Excelsior), Paleoenvironmental and paleoceanographic changes across Ocean Anoxic Event 2 indicated by a southwest Minnesota core section
HS-SOFT-338 - Huxley Westemeier (Minneapolis), Project Calliope: Quantum Resistant Encryption using Asymmetric Numeral Systems
HS-MATS-305 - Humza Jameel (St. Paul), Investigating The Effects of Rubber Aggregate as a Substitute for Natural Aggregate on the Strength of Concrete
HS-BMED-230 - Snigdha Tungtur (Plymouth), Lineage-Tracing of Cardiac Fibroblasts that are Reprogrammed to Endothelial Cells

Middle School
MS-ENEV-250 - Emaan Moheet (Plymouth), Developing and Testing Permeable Pavement Material to Prevent Urban Flooding
MS-ETSD-301 - Jared Griffiths (New Hope), Shapes and Quakes: The Stability of Architectural Shapes During an Earthquake
MS-EGSD-229 - Lilly Bilek (Columbia Heights), Factors affecting anode performance in an alga I metal II carbon I ferric chloride circuit
MS-CHEM-204 - Divora Adhanom (St. Paul) & Lola Currier (White Bear Lake), An osmotic method for the determination of coordination numbers of simple sugars
MS-CHEM-210 - Faye Nation (St. Paul), How Do Different Yeast Strains Impact on the Flavor and Aroma of Distillers Fermented Beer?
MS-TECA-319 - Shagun Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), In Search of Sound: Creating Solutions for Sound Localization Challenges Using MicroBit Architecture to Aid Spatial Hearing Loss
MS-CHEM-097 - Oscar Scheid (Rochester), Different Bio Plastics and their Strength, Flexibility, and Puncturability
MS-ETSD-271 - Hannah Steines (St. Paul), How the Shape of a Car Affects Aerodynamics
MS-BEHA-124 - Sia Sood (Rochester), Does High Technology Use Correlate With Stress in Middle School Students?
MS-MATS-285 - Mary-Grace Dobie (St. Paul), How Playground Material and Surfacing Affect Safety
MS-PHYS-261 - Liam O'Keefe (Bloomington), Effects of Temperature on Hitting Home Runs
MS-CHEM-288 - Samuel Edson (Otsego), Destroying Science: Building Materials and Deterioration
MS-CHEM-326 - Leah Benoit (Otsego), Influence of Veganism on the Qualities of Traditional Dairy Products: Type of Plant-Based Milk and Density of a Pudding Dessert
MS-EAEV-228 - Ferran Peckosh, (St. Paul) Filtering Fire

Bronze Award

High School
HS-ANIM-307 - Elin Wellmann (Edina), The Microplastic Butterfly Effect: Effects of dietary microplastic on survival and fitness of Cabbage White butterflies (Pieris rapae)
HS-ETSD-306 Caleb Li (Plymouth), Optimizing School Traffic During Morning Drop Off
HS-BMED-199 - Cerena Karmaliani (Minneapolis), The Absorbency of Home-Compounded Transdermal Pain Medication in Comparison to Industrially Manufactured Voltaren Gel
HS-MATS-335 - Lillian Kowal (Excelsior), Using food waste to produce the bioplastic polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) with the bacteria Cupriavidus necator DSM 545
HS-CELL-256 - William Zhong (Eden Prairie), Effect of phr1 on KaiC domain-containing protein gene in Halobacterium salinarum NRC-1
HS-ROBO-292 - Ethan Finch (Afton), Evaluating the Efficiency of Different Machine Learning Models in Locating the /s/ Phoneme
HS-CELL-072 - Rohil Patel (Rochester), Inhibition of GPRC5A in human airway smooth muscle cells and its effects on calcium handling and cell proliferation
HS-BMED-201 - Kyra Martin (Excelsior), The effect of ubiquitination deubiquitinases on breast cancer metastasis
HS-ENEV-272 - Ellison Stroh (Minnetonka), A potential dike for the Savannah, Georgia region to mitigate storm surge
HS-BEHA-187 - Annie Zhang (Woodbury), The Effects of Stimulants as a Treatment for Autism Symptoms using the Drosophila model
HS-BMED-019 - Johanna Bernu (Cloquet), Disinfectant Properties of Nuphar advena: An Ethnopharmaceutical Approach
HS-EAEV-020 - Grace Lavan (Cloquet), Meet the New Neighbor: Can Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) Establish Territories in Areas of Higher Human and Road Density Than Expected
HS-EAEV-052 - Skyler Weekley (Moorhead), A Definitive Study of a Silicified Lignite layer from the Golden Valley formation of western North Dakota
Isabella Tobin
HS-EGSD-082 - Ezra Weldegabriel, Ardashir Kocer & Erik Hill (Rochester), An Investigation of Alternative Lithium Ion Battery Anodes
HS-BEHA-193 - Oliver Chan (St. Paul)  Examining the Impact of Positive Affirmations on the Confidence Perception and Academic Performance of High School Students
HS-CBIO-246 - Milan Darji (Eden Prarie), A novel use of RFdiffusion, an AI denoising diffusion probabilistic model, to design scaffold proteins
HS-CBIO-205 - Deling Chen (North Oaks), A Novel Electrocardiogram-Based Model for Prediction of Dementia—the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study
HS-EAEV-238 - David Schumacher (Minneapolis), Bioremediation of Nickel with Chlorella Vulgaris and Chlorella Pyrenoidosa
HS-SOFT-313 - Sarah Gedi (Minneapolis), Glucate: Redefining Diabetes Management for a Healthier Tomorrow

Middle School
MS-MATS-131 - Alma Feldman-Chicoma & Grace Pickering (Rochester), Cost Efficient Soundproofing in Affordable Housing
MS-EGSD-233 - Shea Bohl (Minneapolis), The Power of Rust: A Study of Electrolytes in Iron-Air Batteries
MS-ETSD-296 - Edward Ginter (Eden Prairie), Pick the Right Pickleball: Examining Varying Pickleball Bounce Heights
MS-ANIM-302 - Adlai Jeevanathan (Chanhassen), Spectrum of Feathers: Analyzing Bird Behavior and Color
Arav Goyal
MS-MATS-332 - Cora Finck (Hamel), Our Sun In Color
MS-EBED-031 - Caleb Striker (Moorhead), Come Ohm: Creating a Dog Door Opener
MS-CELL-104 - Avanti Duggirala (Rochester), Transforming Yeast with a Jellyfish Gene using a Plasmid Vector and Determining Gene Expression
MS-BEHA-155 - Laura Hansen (Forest Lake), Music Magic: Using electroencephalography and surveys to investigate the therapeutic value of music
MS-BMED-346 - Bethel Senay (Blaine), Blood Sugar High? Why?
MS-EAEV-129 - Sanvitha Vallurupalli (Rochester), Now You See It, Now You Don't! - How Does Acid Rain Affect Different Building Materials?
MS-ENEV-121 - Corinne Duquaine (Rochester), Hot vs. Cold Magnets: Which Will Work Better
MS-ETSD-050 - Ally Johnson (Thief River Falls), DIY Crystal Radio
MS-ETSD-286 - Logan Ford (Elk River), Molecular Motion in Magnets
MS-ROBO-141 - Zoe Zhang (Rochester), Tracking Adult Zebrafish Locomotion: Machine Learning vs Traditional Algorithmns​
MS-MATS-136 - Sophie Ginder (Rochester), What makes the best type of firestarter?
Amelia Dyrstad
MS-BMED-134 - Natalie Nase (Rochester), Impact of Common Drinks on Teeth
MS-ETSD-115 - Aditi Kattamuri, Margarita Nikulina & Natalia Wojcik (Rochester), SafetyMN
MS-EAEV-017 - Jeremiah Bents (Cloquet) & Finley Holz (Saginaw), Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Movement Before, During, and After Deer Season On and Around The Fond Du Lac Reservation

State Science Fair Advocacy Award

The State Science Fair Advocacy Award recognizes one adult and one student for outstanding and highly impactful advocacy on behalf of the State Science & Engineering Fair.

Isha Kapoor, Mayo High School

Kelly Coleman, Medtronic

Minnesota Junior Academy of Science

The Minnesota Junior Academy of Science (MJAS). is an honorary society and leadership group of high school and college students from Minnesota who have demonstrated excellence in STEM research at the high school level. Students who win MN State Science & Engineering Fair Gold Awards or become ISEF Finalists from Minnesota are automatically invited to join. Other interested high school students may apply!

Learn more about the MJAS and current members and apply/register at mnmas.org/junior-academy. 

Minnesota Academy of Science Coding Award

This award recognizes a high school student whose project shows a remarkable passion to improve a problem or concern in their community and who has made the link with creating a solution with coding/computation in their project.

HS-SOFT-334, Bora Mandic (St. Paul), SignalGrab: A Machine Learning Approach to Helping Color Blind Drivers

Medtronic Awards

The premier sponsor of the Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair is Medtronic Technical Fellows and Global Tech & Innovation Sustainability Development.

All award winners receive an exclusive invitation to the Medtronic Tech Fellows Day.

Medtronic Innovation Award

The Medtronic Innovation Award recognizes students whose projects exemplify excellence through innovative outside-the-box ideas, self-motivated independent work, passion for discovery and science, and the potential to impact their category or the world.

First Place High School ($750 and certificate): HS-CBIO-235 - Alexander Bartholomew (Minneapolis), Analysis of machine learning techniques on electroencephalography data to detect mild traumatic brain injury in humans
Second Place High School ($500 and certificate): HS-ENBM-245 - Fernanda Arreola-Lucio (Shorewood), Like finding a needle in a blood sac! Novel creation of Gelatinous Microneedle Adhesive (Gel MNA) polymerized with methacrylic anhydride, fibrinogen, and zeolite coagulation agents to eliminate axial body frame hemorrhage
Third Place High School ($250 and certificate): HS-BMED-199 - Cerena Karmaliani (Minneapolis), The Absorbency of Home-Compounded Transdermal Pain Medication in Comparison to Industrially Manufactured Voltaren Gel

First Place Middle School ($750 and certificate): MS-ENEV-254 - Jack Gao (North Oaks), The Impact of Electric Vehicle Adoption and Electrification
Second Place Middle School ($500 and certificate): MS-BMED-122 - Aditi Sriram (Rochester), How Does Motion Artifact Affect the Accuracy of a Photoplethysmogram
Third Place Middle School ($250 and certificate): MS-MATS-315 - Grace Hunt (Minneapolis), Powder Prints

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award

The Medtronic Technical Achievement Award recognizes students whose projects demonstrate excellence through imagination and inventiveness, tackling a challenging technical question, rigorous scientific inquiry and execution, and the potential to solve a technical problem.

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award: Biomedical
High School Winner ($500 and certificate): HS-BMED-230 - Snigdha Tungtur (Plymouth), Lineage-Tracing of Cardiac Fibroblasts that are Reprogrammed to Endothelial Cells
Middle School Winner ($500 and certificate): MS-ROBO-058 - Nora Fay (Thief River Falls), Light Timer

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award: Science & Engineering
High School Winner ($500 and certificate): HS-ROBO-325 - Finn Cairns (Minneapolis), ViABL: Visual Assistant for the Blind with VLMs
Middle School Winner ($500 and certificate): MS-CHEM-156 - Olivia Zhou (Eden Prairie), Growing Marshmallows

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award: Sustainability
High School Winner ($500 and certificate): HS-EGSD-041 - Mitchel Masters (Lake Crystal), Are Tesla Turbines worth it? A deep dive into Tesla turbines in the hydroelectric industry
Middle School Winner ($500 and certificate): MS-EGSD-203 - Sandor Pratt (Elk River), Sour Power! Testing how the acidity of certain foods impact how much power they can generate if they are put in a lemon battery-like form

SPECIAL SPONSORED AWARDS

In alphabetical order

3M

3M seeks to recognize projects applied to real-life situations where students are trying to improve the world around them. 3M values resourcefulness, quality, professionalism, creativity, and, of course, innovation.

3M science applied to life award

This award acknowledges students whose projects make a lasting, positive impact on their local or global community through innovation, creativity, and scientific exploration.

First Place High School ($500): HS-ROBO-325 - Finn Cairns (Minneapolis), ViABL: Visual Assistant for the Blind with VLMs
Second Place High School ($300): HS-SOFT-334, Bora Mandic (St. Paul), SignalGrab: A Machine Learning Approach to Helping Color Blind Drivers
Third Place High School ($200): HS-CBIO-246 - Milan Darji (Eden Prarie), A novel use of RFdiffusion, an AI denoising diffusion probabilistic model, to design scaffold proteins

First Place Middle School ($500): MS-CHEM-204 - Divora Adhanom (St. Paul) & Lola Currier (White Bear Lake), An osmotic method for the determination of coordination numbers of simple sugars
Second Place Middle School ($300): MS-EBED-031 - Caleb Striker (Moorhead), Come Ohm: Creating a Dog Door Opener
Third Place Middle School ($200): MS-ENEV-250 - Emaan Moheet (Plymouth), Developing and Testing Permeable Pavement Material to Prevent Urban Flooding

3M young inventor recognition

High School Winners ($100 and certificate):
HS-EBED-244 - Rishi Bhargava (Mendota Heights) & Humza Murad (Inver Grove Heights), Project WASP: Atmospheric Water Capture for Autonomous Sustainable Agriculture in Freshwater Scarce Regions
HS-ROBO-294 - Noah Getnick (Bloomington) & Evan Johnstone (Minneapolis), Collision-Free Commutes: Designing a Blind Spot Detection System for Cyclists Using an Ultrasonic Sensor and Computer Vision
HS-EGSD-041 - Mitchel Masters (Lake Crystal), Are Tesla Turbines worth it? A deep dive into Tesla turbines in the hydroelectric industry
HS-SOFT-338 - Huxley Westemeier (Minneapolis), Project Calliope: Quantum Resistant Encryption using Asymmetric Numeral Systems
HS-ROBO-287 - Emily Zhou (Woodbury), The Tom and Jerry Algorithm for Nonholonomic robots: Optimized and adaptive path planning and dynamic obstacle avoidance based on A* and mathematical predator and prey insights for real-life simulations

Middle School Winners ($100 and certificate):
MS-EBED-037 - Dominik Fortin & Aleksander Kokotovich (Savage), Pickup Game Starter (PUG)
MS-ETSD-115 - Aditi Kattamuri, Margarita Nikulina & Natalia Wojcik (Rochester), SafetyMN
MS-MATS-295 - Agustin Orezzoli Robinson (St. Paul), Best Model Airplane Material
MS-CHEM-097 - Oscar Scheid (Rochester), Different Bio Plastics and their Strength, Flexibility, and Puncturability
MS-BMED-122 - Aditi Sriram (Rochester), How Does Motion Artifact Affect the Accuracy of a Photoplethysmogram

American Chemical Society (ACS), Minnesota Section

Outstanding Experimental Project in CHemistry/Biochemistry

This award recognizes an outstanding high school chemistry/biochemistry project. Honorable mentions will receive a one-year subscription to ChemMatters, the ACS publication for high school students.

High School Outstanding Project ($100):
HS-EGSD-082 - Ezra Weldegabriel, Ardashir Kocer & Erik Hill (Rochester), An Investigation of Alternative Lithium Ion Battery Anodes

High School Honorable Mentions (subscription to ChemMatters):
HS-PLNT-278 - Sriram Sureshkumar (Stillwater), The effectiveness of biochar as an amendment on the growth of Raphanus Sativus on MGS-1 (Mars Global Simulant) and the development of a model for regeneration of water and oxygen for Life Support Sustenance on Mars
HS-EGSD-249 - Jacob Colton (St. Paul), Effect of Annealing Time on Electrodeposited Zinc Samples for Use in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
HS-BCHM-034 - Aidan Moeller (Lake Crystal), Optimizing Algae

Middle School Outstanding Project ($75):
MS-CHEM-204 - Divora Adhanom (St. Paul) & Lola Currier (White Bear Lake), An osmotic method for the determination of coordination numbers of simple sugars

Middle School Honorable Mention (subscription to ChemMatters):
MS-CHEM-288 - Samuel Edson (Otsego), Destroying Science: Building Materials and Deterioration
MS-EAEV-129 - Sanvitha Vallurupalli (Rochester), Now You See It, Now You Don't! - How Does Acid Rain Affect Different Building Materials?

American Fisheries Society, Minnesota Chapter

Aquatic Sciences achievement Award

This award recognizes projects focusing on aquatic science. Winners receive a book and a fishing pole.

High School:
HS-EAEV-232 - Talia Cairns (Minneapolis), Rhizofiltration of Nitrate and Phosphate by Elodea Canadensis in Varying Temperatures
HS-MCRO-192 - Campbell DeLuca (Excelsior), The effects of Glyphosate on the neurological, behavioral and reproductive behaviors of aquatic organisms
HS-ENEV-247 - John Liu (St. Paul), The Use of Sustained Releasing Technology to Reduce Deicing Salt Pollution
HS-ENEV-259 - Milan Mishra (Minneapolis), Usage of a Convolutional Neural Network in Drone-Based Algae Bloom Monitoring
HS-EAEV-238 - David Schumacher (Minneapolis), Bioremediation of Nickel with Chlorella Vulgaris and Chlorella Pyrenoidosa

Middle School:
MS-EAEV-027 - Melanie Buhs (Cloquet), What effect does water quality education and different water quality parameters have on the occurrence of algal blooms on Eagle Lake?
MS-EAEV-219 - Keagan Corcoran (St. Paul), How Do Microplastic Levels in the Ocean Impact the Penguin Population?
MS-ENEV-250 - Emaan Moheet (Plymouth), Developing and Testing Permeable Pavement Material to Prevent Urban Flooding
MS-EAEV-116 - Winnie Niu (Rochester), The Effect of Sunscreen on the Growth of Green Algae (Eudorina Elegans)
MS-EAEV-022 - Raelynn Wuollet (Cloquet), Lemnoideae and Acetaminophen

American Heart Association

American heart association community impact award

This award is given to a student whose project demonstrates an idea or effort to improve their local community, a population of people (or animals), or humanity as a whole. The winner will receive a certificate.

High School: HS-ROBO-325 - Finn Cairns (Minneapolis), ViABL: Visual Assistant for the Blind with VLMs

Middle School: MS-BEHA-112 - Cecilia Le, Amelia Mills & Dylan Raukar (Rochester), Does education affect the comfort level in the administration of life saving techniques?

American Institute of Professional Geologists

Geology, Earth Science, Environmental Science, and Sustainability Excellence Award

This award is given to projects that demonstrate excellence in geology, earth science, environmental science or sustainability. Winners receive a geoscience handbook and a fossil specimen kit.

HS-EAEV-186 - Jos Buffington (Excelsior), Paleoenvironmental and paleoceanographic changes across Ocean Anoxic Event 2 indicated by a southwest Minnesota core section
HS-EAEV-052 - Skyler Weekley (Moorhead), A Definitive Study of a Silicified Lignite layer from the Golden Valley formation of western North Dakota
MS-EAEV-116 - Winnie Niu (Rochester), The Effect of Sunscreen on the Growth of Green Algae (Eudorina Elegans)

American Meteorological Society, Twin Cities Chapter

Twin Cities Meteorological Society award

The winner of this award will receive a certificate and a weather radio.

HS-EAEV-190 - Sanjana Kollipara (Plymouth), Meteorological Measurement Mysteries:Quantifying the variability of precipitation and snow depth based on measurement location and wind dynamics as it impacts flood prediction modeling

American Psychological Association

Outstanding Research in Psychological Science

This award recognizes outstanding research in psychological science under the category of behavioral and social sciences or any category related to psychology (e.g., animal sciences, biomedical and health sciences, translational medical science) at the high school level. The winner will receive a certificate and student membership.

HS-BEHA-014 - Alexander Ren (Duluth), Effect of Pandemic On American Volunteering: A Comparative Analysis of Pre and Post COVID-19 Formal Volunteer Engagement Across Demographics in the United States

American Society of Plumbing Engineers

Best Display of Mechanical Engineering

This award is given to students at the high school level whose projects display the best use of mechanical engineering.

First Place ($350): HS-EGSD-212 - Yash Dagade (Eden Prairie), SkyWindFarm Harnessing High Altitude Wind Power in a Scalable Manner

Second Place ($150): HS-EGSD-041 - Mitchel Masters (Lake Crystal), Are Tesla Turbines worth it? A deep dive into Tesla turbines in the hydroelectric industry

Association for Women Geoscientists

Student Award for Geoscience Excellence

This award is given to a female student whose project exemplifies high standards of innovation and scientific excellence in the geosciences. Special consideration is given to projects that increase the public awareness of the geosciences, illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of the geosciences, and promote the sensitivity to the earth as a global system. The prize is a certificate.

HS-EAEV-190 - Sanjana Kollipara (Plymouth), Meteorological Measurement Mysteries:Quantifying the variability of precipitation and snow depth based on measurement location and wind dynamics as it impacts flood prediction modeling

Beckman Coulter

A global leader in advanced diagnostics, Beckman Coulter has challenged convention to elevate the diagnostic laboratory’s role in improving patient health for more than 80 years. Our mission is to Relentlessly Reimagine Healthcare, One Diagnosis at a Time – and we do this by applying the power of science, technology and the passion and creativity of our teams. We are honored to recognize students at the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair for their excellence in STEM fields. The Beckman Coulter scientists and engineers who volunteered as judges were impressed by the skill, knowledge and creativity of all of the award winners.

Beckman Coulter Awards FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE

First Place High School Science Project ($350): HS-BMED-207 - Corinne Moran (Minneapolis), Deciphering DUX4 (Year II): Is transient expression of the DUX4 gene sufficient to cause muscular dystrophy?
Second Place High School Project ($200): HS-TMED-328 - Shreshth Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), AccuCellAI: A transformative tool for diagnosing and classifying hematological diseases using convolutional neural networks that demonstrates improved speed, accuracy, and transportability
Third Place High School Science Project ($75): HS-MCRO-067 - Srinidhi Babu (Rochester), A Novel Approach to Antibiotic Resistance: Testing The Effectiveness of Natural vs Synthetic Antibiotics on E.coli

First Place Middle School Science Project ($350): MS-BMED-122 - Aditi Sriram (Rochester), How Does Motion Artifact Affect the Accuracy of a Photoplethysmogram
Second Place Middle School Science Project ($200): MS-BMED-134 - Natalie Nase (Rochester), Impact of Common Drinks on Teeth
Third Place Middle School Science Project ($75): MS-MCRO-113 - Hannah Rudzik (Rochester), Hand dryer cleanliness

Beckman Coulter Awards FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGINEERING

First Place High School Engineering Project ($350): HS-ENEV-266 - Tyler Clair (Excelsior), Food waste-based biocoagulants: A novel approach to sustainably remove polystyrene microplastics for future alternatives in water treatment
Second Place High School Engineering Project ($200): HS-ENEV-264 - McKinley Garner (Minneapolis), The Effectiveness of Aspergillus niger as a Remedy to Microplastic-Contaminated Soil
Third Place High School Engineering Project ($75): Fernanda Arreola-Lucio (Shorewood), Like finding a needle in a blood sac! Novel creation of Gelatinous Microneedle Adhesive (Gel MNA) polymerized with methacrylic anhydride, fibrinogen, and zeolite coagulation agents to eliminate axial body frame hemorrhage

First Place Middle School Engineering Project ($350): MS-EBED-031 - Caleb Striker (Moorhead), Come Ohm: Creating a Dog Door Opener
Second Place Middle School Engineering Project ($200): MS-ETSD-110 - Jay Van Buren (Rochester), Which Wire Records Best?
Third Place Middle School Engineering Project ($75): MS-MATS-295 - Agustin Orezzoli Robinson (St. Paul), Best Model Airplane Material

Bolton & Menk Inc.

Bolton & Menk Young Inventor Award

The Bolton & Menk Young Inventor Award was designed to recognize young inventors who demonstrate innovation, creative thinking, and technical skills to support the belief that all people should live in safe, sustainable, and beautiful communities. Winners receive a $500 award, a Bolton & Menk t-shirt, a certificate, and a job shadow at the Bolton & Menk location closest to their hometown.

HS-ROBO-294 - Noah Getnick (Bloomington) & Evan Johnstone (Minneapolis), Collision-Free Commutes: Designing a Blind Spot Detection System for Cyclists Using an Ultrasonic Sensor and Computer Vision

HS-ENEV-247 - John Liu (St. Paul), The Use of Sustained Releasing Technology to Reduce Deicing Salt Pollution

HS-CHEM-215 - Alyssa Wang (Woodbury), Development of Novel Biodegradable Bioplastics Using Mango Peels Intended for Packaging Film

All students at the science fair, as well as the winner of this prize, are encouraged to showcase their coding projects at Coolest Projects Global. Find out how.

Broadcom Foundation

Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award

This award recognizes a middle school student whose project shows a remarkable passion to improve a problem or concern in their community and who has made the link with creating a solution or the start to a solution with coding/computation in their project. The award includes a $250 gift card and a Raspberry Pi Foundation Official Raspberry Pi Pico Kit.

MS-ROBO-058 - Nora Fay (Thief River Falls), Light Timer

Milan Darji

Outstanding Experimental Design Award

This award recognizes a project at the middle school level with an outstanding experimental design. The winner will receive $100 and a certificate.

MS-PLNT-231 - Josephine Nnadi (Brooklyn Center), How do different light sources impact the growth of a plant?

DiaSorin

DiaSorin is honored to participate in this year’s MSSEF! We know the MSSEF experience is an exceptional means to encourage young STEM scholars and we aim to contribute to the strength and numbers of its participants. These individuals are critical to industries like our own and we recognize them as vital global assets for growth and innovation.

DiaSorin, Inc. MERIT Award

Diasorin Merit Awards recognize the best independent work at the middle school level demonstrating the scientific method. The prize is $100.

MS-ENEV-121 - Corinne Duquaine (Rochester), Hot vs. Cold Magnets: Which Will Work Better
MS-MATS-136 - Sophie Ginder (Rochester), What makes the best type of firestarter?
MS-BEHA-130 - Colleen Mahr (Rochester), Do 7th graders have motor dexterity comparable to that of practicing surgeons?
MS-PLNT-051 - Katie Mousel (Jacobson), Pumpkin Seeds vs Weeds: Seed Priming in Pumpkin Seeds
MS-EAEV-228 - Ferran Peckosh, (St. Paul) Filtering Fire

DiaSorin, Inc. relativity award

The Diasorin, Inc. Relativity Award recognizes the best project involving the use of a family member or pet. The winner recieves $30.

MS-BMED-191 - Amy Robles (Minneapolis), The Effects of Caffeine According to Your Age

Ecolab

A trusted partner at nearly three million customer locations, Ecolab is the global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. With annual sales of $12 billion and more than 44,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions, data-driven insights and personalized service to advance food safety, maintain clean and safe environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiencies and sustainability for customers in the food, healthcare, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world.

Ecolab water vision award

Award winning projects are clearly presented, using excellent scientific data gathering and presentations practices, showcasing innovative ideas around the topics of water access, clean water, or water conservation.

First Place High School ($700): HS-ENEV-066 - Ella Holleran (Northfield), Filtering Microplastics in Fresh Waterways with Easily Obtainable Supplies Using Iron Ore Tailings for Filter Housing
First Place Middle School ($700): MS-EAEV-098 - Bhavya Yerriboyina (Rochester), Eco-Flow: Water Solutions for Third World Country Contamination

ecolab Food Safety Award

Award winning projects are clearly presented, using excellent scientific data gathering and presentations practices, showcasing innovative ideas around food safety—preserving the quality of food to prevent contamination and foodborne illness.

First Place High School ($700): HS-MATS-055 - Adam Jacobson & Paige Jacobson (Grand Rapids), Fantastic Bioplastic
First Place Middle School ($700): MS-EAEV-133 - Lauren Arnold (Rochester), Impact of essential oils on the rate of mold growth on bread

Emerson Women’s Impact Network

Female in STEM Excellence Award

This award is given to one female high school student and one female middle school student. Winning projects are clearly presented, exemplify excellence in their category, and demonstrate high degree of difficulty, complexity, creativity, and innovation using excellent scientific data gathering and presentation practices.

High School ($200): HS-PLNT-270 - Quinn Hughes (Mound), Mars or Bust! A Method to Build a Martian Regolith-Based Substrate for Sustainable Agriculture on Mars

Middle School ($200): MS-BMED-122 - Aditi Sriram (Rochester), How Does Motion Artifact Affect the Accuracy of a Photoplethysmogram

Empowering Women in Science

Rosalind E. Franklin Perseverance in STEM Award

The Rosalind E. Franklin Perseverance in STEM Award recognizes woman-identifying or gender minority-identifying students who have demonstrated creativity, dedication, and perseverance in completing an exemplary research project. Winners receive $100.

High School: HS-CBIO-241 - Savanna Larson (Minnetonka), Evaluating the effects of sympatry on Lynx canadensis and Lynx rufus population dynamics in Minnesota

Middle School: MS-ROBO-141 - Zoe Zhang (Rochester), Tracking Adult Zebrafish Locomotion: Machine Learning vs Traditional Algorithmns​

Gateway Fiber

Data Visionary Award

The Data Visionary Award recognizes projects that demonstrate exceptional innovation and creativity in the display and visualization of data. Winners receive $250 and a certificate.

High School:
HS-SOFT-334, Bora Mandic (St. Paul), SignalGrab: A Machine Learning Approach to Helping Color Blind Drivers
HS-TMED-328 - Shreshth Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), AccuCellAI: A transformative tool for diagnosing and classifying hematological diseases using convolutional neural networks that demonstrates improved speed, accuracy, and transportability
HS-BMED-230 - Snigdha Tungtur (Plymouth), Lineage-Tracing of Cardiac Fibroblasts that are Reprogrammed to Endothelial Cells

Middle School:
MS-CELL-104 - Avanti Duggirala (Rochester), Transforming Yeast with a Jellyfish Gene using a Plasmid Vector and Determining Gene Expression
MS-ENBM-093 - Samuel Kaspar (Rochester), Transforming Radiology Patient Experiences using Cloud Machine Learning

Good Chemistry

Good Chemistry Prize for Creativity

This award is given to a female student whose project demonstrates creativity (including use of colors, textures, scents, etc). The winner receives a science kit, Good Chemistry perfume and a framed certificate.

MS-BEHA-155 - Laura Hansen (Forest Lake), Music Magic: Using electroencephalography and surveys to investigate the therapeutic value of music

Hamline University Department of Physics

Excellence in Renewable Energy and Sustainability Award

This award recognizes high school students whose projects excel in utilizing renewable energy and driving sustainability initiatives. The prize is a certificate and a $100 scholarship toward a Hamline Physics Summer Camp (Innovation Camp, Renewable Energy Camp, or Microscope Adventure Camp).

HS-EBED-244 - Humza Murad (Inver Grove Heights) & Rishi Bhargava (Mendota Heights), Project WASP: Atmospheric Water Capture for Autonomous Sustainable Agriculture in Freshwater Scarce Regions
HS-EGSD-212 - Yash Dagade (Eden Prairie), SkyWindFarm Harnessing High Altitude Wind Power in a Scalable Manner
HS-MATS-070 - Rathan Duggirala (Rochester), A Novel Approach to Synthesis of Biopaint in Toto; Analysis of Spectral Trends and Comparison to Commercial Paints

Institute of Food Technologists, Minnesota Section

Institute of technologists Food Science Award

This award recognizes projects related to food science. Learn more about careers in food science.

First Place High School ($500): HS-CHEM-215 - Alyssa Wang (Woodbury), Development of Novel Biodegradable Bioplastics Using Mango Peels Intended for Packaging Film
Second Place High School ($250): HS-ENEV-266 - Tyler Clair (Excelsior), Food waste-based biocoagulants: A novel approach to sustainably remove polystyrene microplastics for future alternatives in water treatment

First Place Middle School ($500): MS-BCHM-150 - Jai Nair (Woodbury), Comparative analysis of calcium content in plant based foods for dietary recommendations
Second Place Middle School ($250): MS-CHEM-210 - Faye Nation (St. Paul), How Do Different Yeast Strains Impact on the Flavor and Aroma of Distillers Fermented Beer?

Land O’ Lakes

Land O’Lakes Award for Food Innovation

For projects that demonstrate creativity, innovation, and excellence in the study of food science. The prize is $500.

High School Winners:
HS-CHEM-215 - Alyssa Wang (Woodbury), Development of Novel Biodegradable Bioplastics Using Mango Peels Intended for Packaging Film
HS-EGSD-237 - Sarah Zamudio (Burnsville), Composting Inputs and Outputs

Middle School Winners:
MS-CHEM-326 - Leah Benoit (Otsego), Influence of Veganism on the Qualities of Traditional Dairy Products: Type of Plant-Based Milk and Density of a Pudding Dessert
MS-BCHM-109 - Momo Hitosugi (Rochester), How much sugar is on different fruits?

Lemelson Foundation

Lemelson Early Inventor Prize

The Lemelson Early Inventor Prize highlights a young inventor at the middle school level whose project exemplifies the ideals of inventive thinking by identifying a challenge in their community and creating a solution that will improve the lives of others. The prize is $100 and a certificate.

MS-ENBM-093 - Samuel Kaspar (Rochester), Transforming Radiology Patient Experiences using Cloud Machine Learning

LHB

LHB Outstanding Engineering or Building Science Award

This award is given to two outstanding engineering or building science based project, one at the high school level and one at the middle school level. The prize is $500 and a job shadow opportunity.

High School Winner: HS-ETSD-310 - Maximus Ren (Minneapolis), A New High-Impedance-Fault Detection Method to Prevent Power-Line-Induced Wildfires
Middle School Winner: MS-MATS-131 - Alma Feldman-Chicoma & Grace Pickering (Rochester), Cost Efficient Soundproofing in Affordable Housing

LHB Outstanding Sustainability Award

This award is given to one outstanding sustainability based project. The prize is $500 and a job shadow opportunity.

High School Winner: HS-MATS-305 - Humza Jameel (St. Paul), Investigating The Effects of Rubber Aggregate as a Substitute for Natural Aggregate on the Strength of Concrete

Minnesota Academy of Science Board of Directors

minnesota academy of science Aspiring Scientist Award

This award recognizes students in each region that are competing in the State Science & Engineering Fair for the first time. Winners receive a $10 gift certificate and a Minnesota Academy of Science hoodie.

Northern Region: MS-PLNT-051 - Katie Mousel (Jacobson), Pumpkin Seeds vs Weeds: Seed Priming in Pumpkin Seeds
Northern Region: MS-ROBO-058 - Nora Fay (Thief River Falls), Light Timer
Northeast Region: MS-CHEM-049 - Callan Rutherford (Bovey), EGGstra Salty Buoyancy: Cracking the Floatation Code
Northeast Region: HS-BMED-024 - Eliah Eaves (Hinckley), Do headphones cause hearing loss?
Rochester Region: HS-PHYS-075 - Dima Al-Kaisi & Sreyoli Bhattacharya (Rochester), Flat Planes Effect on Drag Coefficient
Southern Region: HS-TECA-044 - Aaron Goskesen (Garden City), Beauty is in the Eye of the Bot
Southern Region: HS-ROBO-042 - Vivian Collins (Lake Crystal), Exploring knowledge representation in AI: Unraveling the language of machines
Twin Cities Region: MS-EAEV-222 - Noah Nguyen (Richfield), Spinning Pinwheel by Steam: Energy From the Earth
Twin Cities Region: HS-BMED-214 - Arjav Krishna (Excelsior), Analyzing the correlation between aerobic and anaerobic capabilities in high school aged individuals
Western Region: MS-ENEV-255 - Taher Taha (Fridley), How to generate water out of air?
Western Region: HS-BEHA-057 - Téo Lecoustre (New York Mills), The Effects of Varying Genres of Instrumental Music on Student Performance During Testing

minnesota academy of science inspiring Scientists Award

This award recognizes teachers and mentors who are inspiring scientists through their first or second year of participation with the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair. Up to two awards will be given per region. Winners receive a gift card and Minnesota Academy of Science merchandise.

John Bell, Perham HS
Josh Halverson, Rochester Community Education
Catherine Julius, Salk Middle School
Kyle Kemp, Park Christian High School
Debra Las, John Adams Middle School
John Mawk, Magnuson Christian School
Indranath Mitra, Mentor, Rochester
Kelly Moeller, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial
Jeff Tyson, Hinckley Finlayson High School
Carmella Whaley, Minnehaha Academy

Minnesota Environmental Health Association

Award for Excellence in Environmental Health Science

These awards recognize the best projects investigating environmental factors influencing public health.

First Place High School ($200): HS-ANIM-307 - Elin Wellmann (Edina), The Microplastic Butterfly Effect: Effects of dietary microplastic on survival and fitness of Cabbage White butterflies (Pieris rapae)
Second Place High School ($100): HS-BMED-019 - Johanna Bernu (Cloquet), Disinfectant Properties of Nuphar advena: An Ethnopharmaceutical Approach
Third Place High School ($50): HS-EAEV-224 - Olivia Hamann (Burnsville), I Didn't Start the Fire

First Place Middle School ($100): MS-EAEV-098 - Bhavya Yerriboyina (Rochester), Eco-Flow: Water Solutions for Third World Country Contamination
Second Place Middle School ($50): MS-ENEV-250 - Emaan Moheet (Plymouth), Developing and Testing Permeable Pavement Material to Prevent Urban Flooding

Honorable Mentions

MS-ENEV-242 Norah Bergerson (Columbus), Glitter, a Million Pieces of Litter: Quantifying microplastics in laundry effluents released from textiles during washing

MS-BMED-177 Baylee Martinez Ortiz (Elk River), How Does The Hand Cleaning Method Impact The Amount Of Bacteria

MS-EAEV-116 Winnie Niu (Rochester), The Effect of Sunscreen on the Growth of Green Algae(Eudorina Elegans)

Mortenson Environmental

Mortenson Environmental Excellence Award

This award recognizes the top three projects with a focus on Geoscience, Environmental Science, or Sustainability as their primary focus. Winners receive a $75 gift certificate to The Enchanted Rock Garden and a certificate.

HS-EAEV-190 - Sanjana Kollipara (Plymouth), Meteorological Measurement Mysteries:Quantifying the variability of precipitation and snow depth based on measurement location and wind dynamics as it impacts flood prediction modeling
MS-EAEV-228 - Ferran Peckosh, (St. Paul), Filtering Fire
HS-EAEV-195 - Adithi Rupireddy (Hamel), Prescribed Burn Management Strategies: A Longitudinal Analysis of Decision-Making and Burn Efficacy in Pinus Resinosa Stands at the Cloquet Forestry Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Earth Systems Science Award

The winning high school project incorporates studies including different spheres of the Earth system, their interactions, and change over time. The award is a certificate.

HS-EBED-244 - Humza Murad (Inver Grove Heights) & Rishi Bhargava (Mendota Heights), Project WASP: Atmospheric Water Capture for Autonomous Sustainable Agriculture in Freshwater Scarce Regions

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award

This award recognizes a high school project with research that demonstrates the principles and technical innovations that offer the greatest understanding of the earth's dynamic processes. The award is a certificate and a medal.

HS-ENEV-272 - Ellison Stroh (Minnetonka), A potential dike for the Savannah, Georgia region to mitigate storm surge

Regeneron

Regeneron Biomedical Science Award

This award recognizes an exceptional high school student scientist who not only demonstrates an impressive command of biomedical science and research but also embodies Regeneron’s core values and behaviors, known as The Regeneron Way. The winner receives $375 and a certificate.

HS-BMED-019 - Johanna Bernu (Cloquet), Disinfectant Properties of Nuphar advena: An Ethnopharmaceutical Approach

Ricoh

Sustainable Development Award

The winning project shows outstanding effort in addressing issues of environmental responsibility and sustainable development. The winner receives a certificate.

HS-EGSD-237 - Sarah Zamudio (Burnsville), Composting Inputs and Outputs

Science Museum of Minnesota

Science Communication Award

These awards recognize presenters who demonstrate exemplary science communication skills including display, conversation, and awareness of the audience. Winners receive a one-year membership to the Science Museum of Minnesota.

High School Winners:
HS-ENEV-247 - John Liu (St. Paul), The Use of Sustained Releasing Technology to Reduce Deicing Salt Pollution
HS-EBED-244 - Humza Murad (Inver Grove Heights) & Rishi Bhargava (Mendota Heights), Project WASP: Atmospheric Water Capture for Autonomous Sustainable Agriculture in Freshwater Scarce Regions

Middle School Winners:
MS-ANIM-302 - Adlai Jeevanathan (Chanhassen), Spectrum of Feathers: Analyzing Bird Behavior and Color
MS-ENBM-093 - Samuel Kaspar (Rochester), Transforming Radiology Patient Experiences using Cloud Machine Learning
MS-BEHA-124 - Sia Sood (Rochester), Does High Technology Use Correlate With Stress in Middle School Students?

Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB)

Outstanding Achievement for Ability and Creativity in In Vitro Biology

This award recognizes the most outstanding 11th grade student exhibiting in the areas of plant or animal in vitro biology or tissue culture. The award is a certificate and membership in SIVB.

HS-CELL-072 - Rohil Patel (Rochester), Inhibition of GPRC5A in human airway smooth muscle cells and its effects on calcium handling and cell proliferation

Society for Science

Community Innovation Award

This award recognizes a high school student whose project will better humanity and improve conditions in the local community. The prize is $500 and a certificate.

HS-BMED-019 - Johanna Bernu (Cloquet), Disinfectant Properties of Nuphar advena: An Ethnopharmaceutical Approach

Society for Science & Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge

The top 10% of middle school projects receive certificates and an invitation to apply to the National Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

MS-CHEM-204 - Divora Adhanom (St. Paul) & Lola Currier (White Bear Lake), An osmotic method for the determination of coordination numbers of simple sugars
MS-EGSD-229 - Lilly Bilek (Columbia Heights), Factors affecting anode performance in an alga I metal II carbon I ferric chloride circuit
MS-EBED-037 - Dominik Fortin & Aleksander Kokotovich (Savage), Pickup Game Starter (PUG)
MS-BCHM-109 - Momo Hitosugi (Rochester), How much sugar is on different fruits?
MS-ENBM-093 - Samuel Kaspar (Rochester), Transforming Radiology Patient Experiences using Cloud Machine Learning
MS-ETSD-301 - Jared Griffiths (New Hope), Shapes and Quakes: The Stability of Architectural Shapes During an Earthquake
MS-CHEM-210 - Faye Nation (St. Paul), How Do Different Yeast Strains Impact on the Flavor and Aroma of Distillers Fermented Beer?
MS-BEHA-130 - Colleen Mahr (Rochester), Do 7th graders have motor dexterity comparable to that of practicing surgeons?
MS-ENEV-250 - Emaan Moheet (Plymouth), Developing and Testing Permeable Pavement Material to Prevent Urban Flooding
MS-BMED-184 - Saee More (Minneapolis), The Fight Against Cardiovascular Disease
MS-MATS-295 - Agustin Orezzoli Robinson (St. Paul), Best Model Airplane Material
MS-CHEM-097 - Oscar Scheid (Rochester), Different Bio Plastics and their Strength, Flexibility, and Puncturability
MS-TECA-319 - Shagun Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), In Search of Sound: Creating Solutions for Sound Localization Challenges Using MicroBit Architecture to Aid Spatial Hearing Loss
MS-BMED-122 - Aditi Sriram (Rochester), How Does Motion Artifact Affect the Accuracy of a Photoplethysmogram
MS-CHEM-156 - Olivia Zhou (Eden Prairie), Growing Marshmallows

Kailey Soller

Woman in Science - Impact Award

This award is presented to a student who is expected to make an impact in the scientific world as demonstrated by their creative project idea, strong presentation skills, or unique way that they demonstrated the potential for their project to transfer into a product. The prize is a Women in Science book award and a $50 gift card.

High School: HS-EAEV-020 - Grace Lavan (Cloquet), Meet the New Neighbor: Can Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) Establish Territories in Areas of Higher Human and Road Density Than Expected
Middle School: MS-ROBO-058 - Nora Fay (Thief River Falls), Light Timer

Thompson Family

Excellence in Obstacle Navigation

This award recognizes students who have demonstrated outstanding ability to deal with obstacles that came up during their project. Winners receive $50 and a certificate.

MS-MATS-332 - Cora Finck (Hamel), Our Sun In Color
MS-EGSD-198 - Sebastian DeLeo (Ramsey), Different Angles of Polarizing Light
MS-BEHA-170 - Helen Summers (St. Paul), Which Method Works Best For Memory Recall In Elementary School Students
HS-BMED-230 - Snigdha Tungtur (Plymouth), Lineage-Tracing of Cardiac Fibroblasts that are Reprogrammed to Endothelial Cells

University of Minnesota - College of Biological Sciences

budding scientist award

The UMN College of Biological Sciences Budding Scientist Award is given to an outstanding high school project in the category of Biological Sciences. The prize includes a $50 gift card, a water bottle, and a t-shirt.

HS-BMED-153 - Samantha Gilats (St. Paul), Exploring Potential Effects of Theobromine on Girardia tigrina Regeneration

University of Minnesota - Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering

Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Sustainable Product Design Award

This award is given for the best use of sustainable design and/or product development. The prize is $100 and a certificate.

HS-EGSD-041 - Mitchel Masters (Lake Crystal), Are Tesla Turbines worth it? A deep dive into Tesla turbines in the hydroelectric industry

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Science Champion Award

This award is given to a project demonstrating scientific excellence that uses science in an innovative way to create a potential solution to international development challenges. The prize is a certificate and invitation to present by USAID’s Chief Scientist.

HS-ANIM-340 - Isabella Wang (Woodbury), Staying Alive: Mitigating the challenge of overwintering bees in Minnesota’s harsh climate; a study of beehive wraps, their insulative properties, ability to modulate thermal extremes, and preserve bee populations

U.S. Air Force

Air Force Achievement Award

This award goes to outstanding high school projects that focus on science and technology, preferably with Air Force applicability. The award is a certificate.

HS-BMED-033 - Rohan Sharma (Mankato), Wearable devices and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the prediction of heart attacks Imagining the future with a HealthWatch
HS-ENEV-066 - Ella Holleran (Northfield), Filtering Microplastics in Fresh Waterways with Easily Obtainable Supplies Using Iron Ore Tailings for Filter Housing
HS-MATS-055 - Adam Jacobson & Paige Jacobson (Grand Rapids), Fantastic Bioplastic
HS-ROBO-294 - Noah Getnick (Bloomington) & Evan Johnstone (Minneapolis), Collision-Free Commutes: Designing a Blind Spot Detection System for Cyclists Using an Ultrasonic Sensor and Computer Vision

U.S. Metric Association

Best Use of the International System of Units

This award recognizes a project that involves a significant amount of quantitative measurement and which best uses the SI metric system for those measurements. The award is a certificate and membership to the U.S. Metric Association.

HS-EGSD-041 - Mitchel Masters (Lake Crystal), Are Tesla Turbines worth it? A deep dive into Tesla turbines in the hydroelectric industry

U.S. Navy

Naval Science Award

For outstanding individual projects in science & engineering. All winning projects receive a certificate, letter of congratulations and medal, high school winners also receive $75.

High School Winners:
HS-SOFT-313 - Sarah Gedi (Minneapolis), Glucate: Redefining Diabetes Management for a Healthier Tomorrow
HS-CELL-072 - Rohil Patel (Rochester), Inhibition of GPRC5A in human airway smooth muscle cells and its effects on calcium handling and cell proliferation
HS-SOFT-338 - Huxley Westemeier (Minneapolis), Project Calliope: Quantum Resistant Encryption using Asymmetric Numeral Systems

Middle School Winners:
MS-BEHA-318 - Claire Carlson (Minneapolis), How Does Lyrical, non Lyrical, or No Background Music Affect Memory When Learning New Content?
MS-EAEV-125 - Shyam Christensen (Rochester), Solar Panel Sustainability
MS-CHEM-288 - Samuel Edson (Otsego), Destroying Science: Building Materials and Deterioration

Water Environment Federation

Stockholm Junior Water Prize

This award recognizes outstanding water-related projects at the high school level. The prize is a certificate and entry into state competition. Awards were distributed at the State Science Fair event.

Yale Science & Engineering Association, Inc.

Most Outstanding Exhibit in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or Chemistry

This award recognizes the most outstanding high school project exhibiting in the areas of Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The winner receives a certificate and a medallion.

HS-ENEV-266 - Tyler Clair (Excelsior), Food waste-based biocoagulants: A novel approach to sustainably remove polystyrene microplastics for future alternatives in water treatment

Young Environmental Consulting Group

Collaboration in STEM award

This award is given to a project showcasing a collaborative process, which may include how the research was completed or presented. The winner receives $250 and a certificate.

HS-EGSD-082 - Ezra Weldegabriel, Ardashir Kocer & Erik Hill (Rochester), An Investigation of Alternative Lithium Ion Battery Anodes

While we value, respect, and thank each of our sponsors, the views and policies of our Science Fair awards sponsors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Minnesota Academy of Science, our Board, or our Staff.