2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific JIC update: Top 30 Announced

Congratulations to Akhil Nagori, Evann Sun & Lucas Shengwen Yen from Cabrillo Middle School and Christine Wang from The Harker School who are in the Top 30 Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge. They are four of the fifteen students from the Synopsys Championship who advanced from the Top 300 semi-finalists. All 30 finalists receive a $500 cash award and will participate in Finals Week in Washington, D.C., October 24 to October 29. Check out the full press release for more details!

Sponsoring teachers are expected to understand and abide by fair rules. Sponsoring teachers are encouraged to view this year’s Teacher Workshop video and slide presentation here.

Congratulations to the Top 300 semi-finalists in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. We’re proud to share that fifteen students representing eight projects from the Synopsys Championship have earned a place among this distinguished group. More than 1800 middle school students from across the United States participated in the 2025 competition. The Top 30 students (to be announced on Sept 17th) will compete for more than $100,000 in awards and prizes. Finalists will compete October 24 – 29 by participating in team challenges in addition to being judged on their science research projects.

Attention: Our 2026 Changes from Previous Rules & Procedures page is now live. Please take a moment to review the changes, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

The 2026 Synopsys Championship will take place on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, with Check-in Day on Monday, March 9, 2026. Please note: There are several important updates this year, including revised deadlines and new requirements—most notably, changes to our SRC pre-approval diagram and our Minimum Quality Requirements. Our 2026 Changes from Previous Rules and Procedures and our Minimum Quality Requirements page will be updated soon, so please check back regularly. Lastly, be sure to visit our Important Dates page for all deadline information.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search 2026 application is open now until November 6th. In addition to the Regeneron ISEF and the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge programs, the Society for Science & the Public also owns and produces the Regeneron STS, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious competition for high school seniors.

ISEF, the International Science & Engineering Fair, celebrating its 75th anniversary, visited Columbus, OH this year with nearly 2,000 finalists participating with the sponsorship of Regeneron. Finalists represented approximately 60 countries, regions and territories. Congratulations to all the participants from the Synopsys Championship and to the award winners announced on May 15 (special awards) and May 16 (scientific category awards).

Special congratulations to Vrishank Chandrasekhar for his ISEF Top Award, the Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award. This prestigious award includes an all-expense-paid trip to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden.  Vrishank was recognized for his outstanding project in Translational Medical Science, titled OncoNote: Early Pan-Cancer Prognosis Prediction. In addition, Regeneron honored him with a First Award for his innovative research.

Congratulations to our outstanding Santa Clara County students! 151 Synopsys Championship participants (101 projects) qualified to compete at the In Person California State Science & Engineering Fair on April 13th.  Winners were announced online and are posted on the CSEF web site.  SCVSEFA has a summary page of all 70 winning participants from the Synopsys Championship.

Special congratulations to Zooey Lan and Anya Lee, the team who was awarded Project of the Year in the Junior Division!

The Summit STEM Fellowship is a virtual summer fellowship empowering future STEM leaders. Open to rising 9th-12th graders worldwide, the fellowship connects students with mentors from leading institutions including Stanford, MIT, and Harvard, to explore diverse opportunities and career pathways in STEM. The fellowship is a flexible 10-15 hour weekly commitment, and students may participate alongside other summer commitments. Applications are rolling, and students are encouraged to apply as early as possible. To learn more and apply, please visit www.summitstemfellowship.org. For any questions, please email info@summitstemfellowship.org. 

SCVSEFA announced the 2025 Synopsys Championship winners on the web site on April 6, click here to see results, including the students who qualified for CSEF and Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC) nominees.