JSHS History and Impact
The first National JSHS competition was held in 1962. From 1968 until 2022, the Minnesota Academy of Science (MAS) hosted the North Central Regional JSHS for students in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
What is JSHS? The Junior Science & Humanities Symposium is a research paper competition for high school students held throughout the United States and U.S. territories. After months of scientific research, students prepare and present research papers to scientific judges. A total of $4,500 in undergraduate tuition scholarships are awarded to the top three finalists. Each year, judges select the top five paper presentations as Finalists to receive trophies and advance to National JSHS. Students win an expense paid trip to compete against high school students representing the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Department of Defense Dependent Schools of Europe and the Pacific.
Learn more about the past two decades of JSHS held in Minnesota below.
2022 North Central Regional JSHS
The 2022 event was held virtually March 20-31 in conjunction with the Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair.
2022 North Central Regional JSHS Results
1st place ($2,000; oral presenter at NJSHS): Christine Song (Mayo High School), Cure of Breast Cancer - Year 5: A Novel Approach to Treating Hormonal Breast Cancer using Diabetes Medication through Clinical Database and 3D ex vivo Model
2nd place ($1,500; oral presenters at NJSHS): Quinn Hughes and Tyler Clair (Minnetonka High School), Using Monte Carlo Simulation to Optimize Vitamin C Production in Brassica oleracea using Abiotic Plant Stress
3rd place ($1,000; poster presenter at NJSHS): Stavya Arora (Maple Grove Senior High School), Overcoming Opioids: Analyzing, characterizing, and quantifying the sentiment of Reddit posts’ tone and language prior to a relapse to allow for early intervention
4th place (poster presenter at NJSHS): Linnea Cooley, Effect of Ethanol and Octocrylene on the Cell Growth and Chlorophyll-a Levels of Cyclotella meneghiniana
5th place (poster presenter at NJSHS): Adhvaith Sridhar, Immune System Innovation: Ushering in a new era of immunology research by characterizing cell populations most impacted by normal microbial exposure for preclinical research and healthcare treatment development success
Press Coverage
Pursuing a cure: Mayo High School junior is in the race to tackle breast cancer
Wayzata High School Student Chosen to Compete in National Science Symposium
2021 North Central Regional JSHS
This event was held virtually March 23-30 in conjunction with the State Science & Engineering Fair.
2021 North Central Regional JSHS Results
1st place ($2,000): Emma Kratcha (Hankinson High School), Soil Farms: A New Approach to Cropland Restoration
2nd place ($1,500): Dominic Greco & Benjamin Kroul (Breck School), Mighty MOFs: Using Novel Catalysts to Produce Components of Recyclable Plastics
3rd place ($1,000): Jennifer Oettinger (Mayo High School), Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Development of an Innovative, Reusable, and Energy-Efficient Filter for Microplastics Created Through Tire Wear
4th place: Christine Song (Mayo High School), Cure of Breast Cancer - Year 4: The First Discovery of New Target Therapy for Aggressive Hormonal Breast Cancer using Clinical Database and 3D Model
5th place: Atreyus Bhavsar (Blake School), The Spread of Macroscopic Droplets from a Simulated Cough with and without the Use of Masks or Barriers
2020 North Central Regional JSHS
In response to the COVID-19 global health crisis, MAS moved the March 26, 2020, JSHS to a virtual format. By March 20, 68 students presented 54 original research projects by submitting audio files with their slideshows and research papers. MAS congratulates all these students for their perseverance and flexibility. We announced finalists and other awards live via Zoom webinar and on this website April 1.
1st place ($2,000): Vaughn Hughes (Minnetonka High School / Abbott Labs), Using Environmental Enhancements to Increase Vitamin-C Production in Spinacia oleracea in Varied Agricultural Environments
2nd place ($1,500): Mina Mandic (St. Paul Academy), Theoretical Math Exploring the Wonders of the Early Universe: Green Pea Galaxies and Light Flux
3rd place ($1,000): Quentin Hughes (Minnetonka High School / Abbott Labs), An Active Role for Machine Learning in the Diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation
4th place: James Clinton & Nathan Rockafellow (Breck School), Spudfinder 6500: Creating a radar-based system for pre-harvest potato yield mapping, year two
5th place: Benjamin Yan (Century High School), Automated Computer Vision and Machine Learning Workflows in Radiation Treatment Planning
Press Coverage
Minnetonka student wins regional STEM competition (Sun Sailor)
Minnetonka High School student wins first in annual STEM research competition (SW News Media)
2020 JSHS event press release
2020 JSHS results press release
National JSHS Competition
In 2020, National JSHS was held virtually — MAS congratulates Mina Mandic for her FIRST PLACE award and $12,000 scholarship and Benjamin Yan for his Peer Review Award at National JSHS! See all 2020 award winners.
2019 North Central Regional JSHS
2018 North Central Regional JSHS
Press Coverage
Two MN Students Place at Nationals
2014 North Central Regional JSHS
Press Coverage
Eden Prairie High School Student Wins At National Science Competition
2013 North Central Regional JSHS
1st place: Connor Klemenhagen
2nd place: Ariel Keller & Karina Skov
3rd place: Heather Stone
4th place: Aditi Das
5th place: Jenny Lai
Kevin Molohon was awarded $500 for serving as the teacher and mentor for the first place student, Connor Klemenhagen.
American Junior Academy Of Sciences Award
Priyanka Narayan was awarded an all-expense paid trip to National AJAS. AJAS is a program of the National Association of the Academies of Science and is run in conjunction with the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Scientific Achievement Award Winners
Scientific Achievement Award Winners received a certificate and a $50 award. Winners were Paige Dempsey, Apurv Shekhar, Marcus Gomez, Jessica Ryvlin, Ryan Wade, and Suboohi Khan & Sidhra Musani.
National JSHS Competition
Connor Klemenhagen took first place in Environmental Sciences and was awarded a $12,000 scholarship.
2012 North Central Regional JSHS
89 students presented 70 papers at the 2012 Tri-State JSHS symposium.
1st place: David Campeau and Spencer Berglund
2nd place: Timothy Renier
3rd place: Naveen Jain
4th place: Ishmam Ahmed
5th place: Travis Sigafoos
American Junior Academy Of Sciences awards
Winner - Anushua Bhattacharya
1st alternate - Margaret Green and Laura Landgraf
2nd alternate - Preston Jackson and Alec Lamirande
3rd alternate - Lila Johnson
Outstanding Achievement awards went to Caleb Kumar, Rena Weis, Jonah Butler, Bhargavi Papisetty, William Zeng & Orien Zeng, and Aris Prince.
2011 North Central Regional JSHS
73 students presented 65 papers at this year's Tri-State JSHS symposium.
1st place: Spencer Berglund
2nd place: Evan Chen
3rd place: Paimon Pakzad
4th place: Naveen Jain
5th place: Karin Sather
Advancing to AJAS
1st place - Rahul Mukherjee
Alternate - Alec Lamirande and Preston Jackson
Outstanding Achievement awards went to Jack Bryant, Aditi Das, Samarth Damania, Trevor Brian Neff, Iman Pakzad, and Travis Sigafoos.
2010 North Central Regional JSHS
64 students presented 57 papers at this year's Tri-State JSHS symposium. We were delighted to welcome South Dakota back to the competition this year!
1st place - Gavin Ovsak
2nd place - Dan Mokhtari
3rd place - David Campeau & Spencer Berglund
4th place - Eric Chien (not attending)
4th place - Riya Madan
5th place - Katherine Paulsen
Advancing to AJAS
1st place - Somer Drummond
2nd place - Jean Leighton
Alternate - Tim Youtz
Outstanding Achievement awards went to Matthew Crocker, Max Keller, Kara Lillehaug & Kristina Tester, Cathryn Manduca, Logan Pallin, and Bethany Rosemore & Ben Scheuer.
2009 North Central Regional JSHS
71 students presented 61 papers at this year's Tri-State JSHS symposium. The event was expanded this year to include 14 additional presentations and 5 additional awards.
1st place - Stephen Trusheim
2nd place - Travis Spangler
3rd place - Michael Cherkassky
4th place - Sierra Danforth & Sahar Hakim-Hashemi
5th place - Michael Crump
Advancing to AJAS
1st place - Emily Nimmer
2nd place - Sharmila Ahmed
Alternate - Lena Swander
Alternate - David & Neil Erdahl
Outstanding Achievement awards went to Anushua Bhattacharya, Madelaine Taft-Ferguson, Daniel Mokhtari, Raghav Chandra, and Riya Madan.
2008 North Central Regional JSHS
53 students presented 46 papers at this year's Tri-State JSHS symposium. The event was expanded this year to provide a full callback round. The callback judges had a very difficult time ranking the amazing presentations.
1st place - Kate Weegman
2nd place - Steve Trettel
3rd place - Daniel Mokhtari & Stephen Trusheim
4th place - Nicholas Derrico
5th place - Melody Hu
Advancing to AJAS
1st place - Michael Zaiken
2nd place - Madelaine Taft-Ferguson
3rd place - Brandon Law
4th place - Catherine Ishitani
5th place - Elaine Ayers
Results of National JSHS
New Prague's Stephen Trettel won 1st place and a $16,000 scholarship! Winona's Kate Weegman won 3rd place and a $2,000 scholarship! Breck School's Daniel Mokhtari and Stephen Trusheim won gift certificates for their poster presentation!
2007 North Central Regional JSHS
From 21 Open Competition entrants, 10 were chosen to compete at this year's JSHS competition. They joined 45 students from regional fairs for an educational evening that covered a wide range of scientific disciplines.
1st - Steve Trettel
2nd - Mitch & Matt Weegman
3rd - Brandon Lew
4th - Elaine Ayers
5th - Kate Weegman
2006 North Central Regional JSHS
1st - Steve Trettel
2nd - Carl Turner
3rd - Mitch & Matt Weegman
4th - James Hanson
5th - Amy Tierney
2003 North Central Regional JSHS
1st - Jordan Meehl
2nd - Adam Hahn
3rd - Erik Mundahl
4th - Michael Barany
5th - Ning Zhou
2002 North Central Regional JSHS
This year's 37 high school student participants from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota were selected from more than 200 students who presented oral and written results of their research investigation at regional and state levels.
Students presented research findings to an audience of about 340 people, including their peers, volunteers, teachers, advisors, family members and judges from academia, government and industry. In addition to the paper presentations at Macalester, event highlights included the popular Breakfast with the Scientists where students had the opportunity to ask questions and explore career options with working scientists. At the Student Choice Award Poster Sessions, the young scientists got to select their own favorites in categories ranging from best research to most likely to win a Nobel Prize. The program also included a visit to the Minnesota Science Museum, a MAS educational partner.
