SSP offers Research@Home resource; 2021 ISEF will be virtual

The Society for Science & the Public (SSP) has posted Research @ Home resources on its website and announced that Regeneron ISEF 2021 will be held as a virtual competition with judging and awards in May 2021: “We will continue to seek ways to support student research even in these unusual times, but acknowledge that change is likely in the coming year.”

SCVSEFA hopes you’ll consider joining the successful team behind the Synopsys Championship for what promises to be an interesting and challenging year. Our volunteer opportunities are described below, including the important role of leading the Science Review Committee (SRC). To learn more, please contact Volunteer Opportunities through the SCVSEFA contact page or send a message to Heidi Black: .

On July 25 (today!) the Society for Science & the Public and Regeneron will offer a virtual exhibition of the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) 2020 finalists’ original research projects. The finalists will be at their booths and able to respond to questions from 2-4pm ET on July 25 and the exhibit will be available for viewing through August 3. Connect via this page on July 25 to view the Public Exhibition of Projects and on July 29 from 8-9 pm ET to watch the Winners Award Ceremony.

All the 2020 Virtual Synopsys Championship t-shirts have been mailed out and everyone who requested one should receive it very soon via USPS. Thanks and congratulations to Anya Chatterjee for her winning design!

If there’s a problem with your order, please send a message to Fair Administration via the contact page.

The Society for Science & the Public unveiled the full schedule of panels for the Virtual 2020 Regeneron ISEF. Register here! There will be a Finalist Exhibit Hall; interactive and immersive experiences in the STEM Experiential Hall; colleges and universities introducing themselves in the ISEF Commons, and a daily program of speakers including, among others, MacArthur Fellow Elissa Hallem, CRISPR-cas9 co-creator Feng Zhang, Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn and National Medal of Technology and Innovation winner Cato Laurencin.

TheOpenCode Foundation is organizing OpenHacks, a hackathon geared to student coders (including beginners). The event is online on May 23-24. Registration is free and open as long as there are slots available. Details at TheOpenCode web site and on the SCVSEFA page for further competitions.

Checks and award items will be mailed to home addresses for seniors and 8th graders. They’ll be delivered to schools for all others when shelter-in-place has ended. To help us be ready for any contingency, please notify FairManager@science-fair.org if your home address has changed since you filled out your science fair application.

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Submit your design for a Virtual Synopsys Championship T–shirt by Saturday, April 11th. We will select a design and make it available for you to order and have a special-issue tshirt sent directly to your home.
Any student who uploaded materials into a folder by the fair date will get a t-shirt, free of charge.
Make sure your design includes the terms “Virtual”, “2020”, and “Synopsys Championship”, and includes the SCVSEF logo – also found in the folder. Use only one color. Include your name or project number.
Upload it to this Google Folder-
https://drive.google.com/…/18N7cM2GgBCOVJeksBoOwOCC7XWpIGLu…
Start doodling!

SCVSEFA will announce all 2020 Synopsys Championship winners on the web site on April 5th, including the students who qualified for CSEF, alternates for CSEF, and Broadcom MASTERS nominees.

ISEF commended the efforts of regional fairs that went online and explained their decision not to pursue a virtual fair on the ISEF FAQ page:

• “A significant percentage of our affiliate fairs were not able to hold a fair and name finalists. As an event that saw 80 countries, regions and territories represented at last year’s events, the logistical challenges of language, time zone and equity of technology suggests that any process that we could implement would not be experienced equally or justly across the audience to be judged.
• Regeneron ISEF is an experience that goes beyond the boundaries of the judging interview process. It is a cultural and scientific exchange of people and ideas and experiences across 6 days.  A virtual judging appointment is not a substitute for this experience and we feel that it would be unfair to characterize it as such.”