Registration for Judges is open

Please register to be a Category Judge for the 2020 Synopsys Championship Science & Engineering Fair, to be held at the San Jose Convention Center on March 12, 2020. We need and welcome judges in all fields of study.

We are looking for biologists, chemists, engineers, environmental scientists, physicists 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.

We’re getting questions about the deadlines on Jan. 7 and Jan. 21. If your application is received by the 7th, it will go to the SRC for review on the 11th, well before the final rush of applications. But there’s no problem submitting on the final day, January 21 – it allows time for the SRC to review your application and let you know about problems. And, to avoid problems, SRC advises you to check the Minimum Quality Requirements.

Synopsys Championship volunteers will take a holiday break until January 2. The SRC reviewers are nearly finished with the backlog and soon we’ll start checking in the applications received since Dec. 3. (Thank you for your patience.)

• New projects will appear as “received” at Check Project Status until reviews start again on January 11.
• If your project status is “received” or “pending” and the application was received by Dec. 3, it is waiting to be reviewed. A project that requires SRC pre-approval may not start until it is approved. 
• If your project status is “incomplete,” you or your teacher/sponsor have probably received email outlining what is missing or incorrect. Please respond to the message, and we will handle your response as time permits between now and January 2.

Please register to be a Category Judge at the 2020 Synopsys Championship Science & Engineering Fair, which will be held at the San Jose Convention Center on March 12, 2020. We need and welcome judges in all fields of study.

Category Judges should have at least a Bachelor’s degree in a technical field or in education (with a concentration in a technical field). We are looking for biologists, chemists, engineers, environmental scientists, physicists and others who will enjoy talking to enthusiastic young people about scientific inquiry and engineering challenges. Information about being a judge is linked to the Category Judging page.

Be sure that your application is received by midnight on December 3 if your project involves human participants, vertebrate animals, hazardous chemicals or biological materials, hazardous activities, or if it is a continuation project. Details here.

The Synopsys Outreach Foundation still has supplies for teachers and educators this year available free of cost:
Science fair boards,
‘I Did it!’ ribbons,
Rosettes – 1^st, 2^nd, and 3rd place,
‘I Did it!’ stickers
They can be requested by sending email to hello@outreach-foundation.org. Kindly help us spread the word so we can provide support to teachers around the Bay Area!

Meeting rooms will be on the 3rd floor of the Arillaga Building at Castilleja School. In addition to a Teacher / Parent Workshop there will be a Student Clinic on November 12 from 6-7 PM. RSVP to src@science-fair.org to attend the workshop and to blackh@esuhsd.org to attend the clinic.
The student clinic will introduce students to the rules and workings of the fair and describe how to find and develop an idea into a project. Project boards from previous fairs will be displayed.
Teachers and parents will get a more intensive look at the rules and requirements for student participation.

Location: 1130 Bryant Street, Palo Alto 94301. You will be asked to sign in and out at the front desk.
Castilleja has specific, neighborhood-friendly parking instructions and a map. There is visitor parking at the corner of Embarcadero Road and Bryant Street. If you park on the street, be sure to park on the school’s side of the street, not the residential side.

The 2020 Regeneron Science Talent Search application is due on November 13th at 8 PM EST. In addition to ISEF and the Broadcom MASTERS competitions, the Society for Science & the Public also produces Regeneron STS, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious competition for high school seniors.

The competition recognizes 300 student scholars and their schools each year and invites 40 finalists to Washington, D.C. to participate in judging, display their work to the public, and meet with scientists and government leaders. Each year, Regeneron STS scholars and finalists compete for $3.1 million in awards. 

There will be a Teacher / Parent Workshop on November 12 from 6-7 PM at Castilleja School in Palo Alto. RSVP to src@science-fair.org if you want to attend.

The workshop will answer questions about the application process and project requirements. The workshop is recommended for every new teacher and any parent who will supervise a Parent-Sponsored Project.

Please submit applications that require pre-approval as soon as possible. Applications received by Nov. 12 will be reviewed at the mid-November SRC/IRB meeting. Projects that require pre-approval often need extra forms, especially projects involving humans. Submitting at the FINAL deadline (Dec. 3) may not give us enough time to resolve issues and receive all the necessary forms before the final IRB review meeting.

We see many applications in the pipeline and look forward to receiving them soon!