Deadline for project materials is extended to March 6 at noon

We are stretching out the Judging Folder review process to be sure we’ve contacted everyone about the status of their folders. As a result, we have extended the deadline to upload project materials until Sunday, March 6, at noon. By then you must post at least a draft of your required documents and forms in your Judging Folder. 
Although you may make changes to your folder until March 9 at 5 pm, remember that Special Awards judges are looking at folders now and will submit their interview requests tomorrow. Category Judges begin previewing projects on March 8. 

Project reviews are ongoing. Some of our SRC volunteers will take a break during the holidays, so response time to your questions may be a bit slower than usual. Thank you in advance for your patience.

• Newly-submitted applications will appear as “Received” at Check Project Status after the administrators check for all the required forms until the SRC starts a review.
• Projects that are “Pending” are in the hands of a reviewer.
• Projects which require SRC pre-approval must wait until they are “Accepted” before experimentation or data collection starts. 
• If your project status is “Incomplete,” you or your teacher/sponsor may have received email outlining what is missing or incorrect. Please respond to the email and we will answer as time permits between now and January 3.

Thank you for the last minute rush of applications! We are busy checking them in, with priority on projects that need pre-approval for safety reasons. When your application is complete (no required forms that are missing or unsigned) and checked in, you will receive an email and it will appear as “Received” when you Check Project Status. Please contact FairManager on Dec. 1 if it isn’t listed by then.

Congratulations to Praneel Anil Shah from John F. Kennedy Middle School! He is one of the top winners at Broadcom MASTERS 2021, taking the $2500 second place STEM Award in Technology with his project, Utilizing a Bioelectrochemical System with Phototrophic Bacteria to Generate Clean Water and Electricity. The Top 30 finalists competed virtually in a 4-day event that included individual and team challenges in various STEM disciplines. A virtual showcase of their projects will be available for several weeks beginning October 28.

The Synopsys Outreach Foundation has announced that the deadline to apply for materials packages in its Building STEM Classrooms Initiative is December 15, 2021. K-6 teachers may apply for teacher training grants, and all educators in Santa Clara County may apply for:

• Project boards
• Science notebooks (up to 48)
• RAFT membership (1 per teacher for first 300 applicants)
• RAFT STEM project kits (up to 35 kits for first 200 applicants)
• New teacher stipend ($100 for first 150 applicants)
• Apply for SJSU college students to lead an engineering workshop at your school! Materials and inspiration provided free of cost

Applications will be accepted until December 15th here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeN7P0ZoOSx7mGzGz8J5Ht3pHD5LoapqYPPZVOhTL5nE6B42w/viewform

Applications close for Synopsys Outreach Foundation’s STEM Grants and RAFT MAKER VAN OPPORTUNITY on November 15th. The programs are for teachers in the Greater Bay Area to bring project-based STEM to their classrooms. They can also serve to get students excited about science fair! Grants up to $5,000 are available.

If you are unfamiliar with the RAFT Maker Van, RAFT can bring project-based science experiences to your school and offer up to 8 hours of programming. More information about what they can provide is available here: https://raft.net/ramp-it-up-event-with-rafts-maker-mobile/

While the final application deadline for SRC pre-approval is November 22, you can get an early start on your project by applying before October 25 or November 8. Then your project will be reviewed at an early meeting of the SRC and may be pre-approved even before the final deadline. Reminder: SRC pre-approval is required for projects that involve hazardous chemicals, activities, and devices or regulated substances. It is also required for projects that will test a device or software app on human subjects.

To Greater Bay Area Educators, from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation:

“The Synopsys Outreach Foundation is excited to announce the opening of our new Building STEM Classrooms initiative (formerly the Science Project Package Program)!

Part 1 of this program includes applications for the following:

• Grants for K-12 project-based STEM events, activities, and programs
• Raft mobile Maker Van visits

 Everything is available 100% FREE of cost!Applications for these opportunities open September 15th and close November 15th.

All applications and FAQ’s are available on our website.

The program is open to educators at public schools, dependent charter schools, nonprofits, independent charter schools with 501(c)(3) public charity status and private non-profit schools with 501(c)(3) public charity status located in the following Greater Bay Area, California counties: Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, San Joaquin, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this program, which includes teacher training and materials packages (all also free of charge)!

Thank you in advance for spreading the word about this great program and we thank you for all that you do for students!
Questions? Please reach out to hello@outreach-foundation.org.
– The Synopsys Outreach Foundation Team”

Congratulations to Praneel Anil Shah, who has been selected as a Top 30 finalist in the Broadcom MASTERS competition! He is one of 14 students from the Synopsys Championship who are among the Top 300 semi-finalists in the Broadcom MASTERS competition. More than 1800 middle school students from across the United States participated the 2021 competition. Each Top 30 student receives a $500 award and each Top 300 student receives a $125 award that was initiated last year by the DoD STEM program. Finalists will compete virtually during Otober 22-28 by participating in team challenges in addition to being judged on their science research projects.

Sign up at https://outreach-foundation.org/teachers/ to receive notices about applying to receive a Science Project Package of STEM items. All items are free of cost and available to teachers at public schools, dependent charter schools, independent charter schools with 501(c)(3) public charity status and private non-profit schools with 501(c)(3) public charity status located between county boundaries: Monterey south, Sonoma north, San Joaquin east.