Category Judge Registration is OPEN

Category Judge registration is now open for the 2025 Synopsys Championship Science & Engineering Fair on March 13, 2025! Category Judges must be present in person from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM in South Hall, San Jose Convention Center. Both returning and new judges must register here.

We need and welcome judges in all fields of study. We are looking for scientists, computer scientists, engineers and others who enjoy talking to enthusiastic young people about scientific inquiry and engineering challenges. Category Judges should have at least a Bachelor’s degree in a technical field or in education (with a concentration in a technical field). See the Category Judging page for details.

Applications requiring SRC pre-approval must be paid by 11:59 PM on November 13th. If you have completed all your forms and have not heard from us yet then please make sure you have completed Step 5 (Pay & Submit). We see many applications in the pipeline and look forward to receiving them soon! Keep in mind, projects that require SRC pre-approval often need extra forms, particularly projects involving humans. The ISEF Rules Wizard is a helpful tool—be sure to use it!

Congratulations to Tina Jin, 14, from San Jose, Calif., who won the $25,000 Thermo Fisher Scientific ASCEND (Aspiring Scientists Cultivating Exciting New Discoveries) Award, the top prize in the competition for her research that proved the ability of animal bones to filter water, in addition to demonstrating leadership, collaboration and critical thinking skills throughout the competition.

Congratulations to Sophie Tong, 14, Palo Alto, Calif., who won the $10,000 DoD STEM Talent Award for her project that sought to improve the safety of vehicles, such as airplanes and self-driving cars, by understanding how vision is degraded in dark, foggy conditions. She then developed algorithms to accurately analyze scenes during bad weather.

The Top 30 finalists competed in a 4-day event that included individual and team challenges in various STEM disciplines. A virtual showcase of their projects is available.

Please submit applications that require pre-approval as soon as possible. Please note that applications are largely addressed in the order received and many students apply at the last minute. Completing your application by the earlier pre-approval date (Oct 30, 2024) will enable you to have a faster response from the Scientific Review Committee as they will have fewer applications to review. Projects that require pre-approval often need extra forms, especially projects involving humans. Submitting at the FINAL deadline (Nov 13) may not give us enough time to resolve issues and receive all the necessary forms.

If you have completed all your forms and have not heard from us yet than please make sure you have completed Step 5 (Pay & Submit). We can not review your application until it has been paid. We see many applications in the pipeline and look forward to receiving them soon!

A question and answer session will be held virtually on Thursday Oct 24 from 5:30-6:30pm. It is recommended that students, new teachers, as well as sponsors who will supervise a PSP (privately-sponsored project), attend to ask questions and get answers regarding their Engineering Project. The slides will give you an overview of how to get started, dos and don’ts and timelines for the 2025 Synopsys Championship. Please RSVP via this Google Form if you plan to attend and we will send you the Zoom link. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Tuesday’s Oct 22nd Student Clinic from 5:30-6:30pm will be switched from in-person to virtual. It is recommended that students, new teachers, as well as sponsors who will supervise a PSP (privately-sponsored project), attend to ask questions and get answers. The slides will give you an overview of how to get started, dos and don’ts and timelines for the 2025 Synopsys Championship. It is strongly recommended that you review the slides before coming to the Q&A. Please RSVP via this Google Form if you plan to attend and we will send you the Zoom link. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

A question and answer session will be held on Tuesday Oct 22 from 5:30-6:30pm at Santa Clara High School’s FabLab. It is recommended that students, new teachers, as well as sponsors who will supervise a PSP (privately-sponsored project), attend to ask questions and get answers. The slides will give you an overview of how to get started, dos and don’ts and timelines for the 2025 Synopsys Championship. It is strongly recommended that you review the slides before coming to the Q&A. Please RSVP via this Google Form if you plan to attend. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Less than a month remains for high school seniors to enter the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), the nation’s oldest and most prestigious student STEM competition. They are seeking the next generation of leaders in science – and awarding $3.1 million to students AND their schools! The deadline to apply is November 7.

Join in on October 18^th at 5pm PT (8pm ET) to hear application advice from former finalists, judges, evaluators and more. Sign up here to attend, and don’t forget to ask your questions here to see them answered live. Find previous webinars and other helpful video content on their YouTube account.

To get started, visit the Application Instructions page. Note that online registration must be completed in a single session, so please have all necessary information ready before you begin. This includes the project title and category, sponsor contact details, and student/parent information for each team member.

Reminder: SRC pre-approval is necessary for projects involving biological materials, living organisms, hazardous chemicals, activities, devices, or regulated substances. It is also required for projects testing devices or software apps on human subjects or conducting surveys or interviews. To obtain SRC/IRB pre-approval, you must submit your application by November 13, 2024. To ensure a quicker response from the Scientific Review Committee (SRC), we strongly recommend completing your application by the earlier pre-approval date of October 30, 2024. Submitting by this date will likely result in an expedited SRC review.

A Teacher Workshop specifically geared to help teachers fill out the Synopsys Championship paperwork will be held virtually on Wednesday, Oct 9th from 4:30-5:30pm. Contact us for the zoom link.

It is strongly recommended for teachers who are new, relatively new or returning to the Championship attend the Teacher Workshop. The workshop will focus on how to fill out the forms correctly, especially projects that require SRC pre-approval, the importance of dates, and meeting Minimum Quality Requirements. It is strongly recommended that you take time to review the ISEF Rules and Guidelines and Contact us ahead of time with any questions you would like answered before joining the session.