Project Categories

PROJECT CATEGORIES, FIELDS OF STUDY AND PROJECT NUMBERS

The Synopsys Championship has 4 Categories and 14 Fields of Study. Categories and Fields of Study within each category are listed below.

Students must choose a Category and Field of Study for their projects.

We have added more examples in some Fields of Study to provide additional ideas for types of projects that might be feasible should students continue to have limited access to laboratory facilities.

An accurate choice of the Field of Study increases the likelihood that your project will be assigned to judges who understand and appreciate your project. A science project involves a study, hypothesis and experiment.  An engineering project involves an application, design or device and an engineering goal. Judges will use Form 1C to determine the student’s contribution to the research.

A unique project number is assigned to each project. The category code within the project number is seen as the 3rd number or letter from the left (indicated by the bold code designation number as seen below). The field of study code is seen as the 4^th number or letter from the left.

CATEGORIES

• Non RRI Biological Science and Engineering (Project # xx1-xxxx-xx)

Student research in Biological Science or Engineering is conducted in home, school, and/or field, and NOT conducted under the guidance of (1) professional research staff at a Regulated Research Institution (RRI), (2) professional research staff at a company or government lab, (3) a professional research scientist or engineer providing advice, or (4) mentors other than teachers providing substantial guidance, data, or equipment not available in schools.

• Non RRI Physical Science and Engineering (Project # xx2–xxx–xx)

Student research in Physical Science or Engineering is conducted in home, school, and/or field, and NOT conducted under the guidance of (1) professional research staff at a Regulated Research Institution (RRI), (2) professional research staff at a company or government lab, (3) a professional research scientist or engineer providing advice, or (4) mentors other than teachers providing substantial guidance, data, or equipment not available in schools.

• RRI Biological Science and Engineering (grades 9–12 only) (Project # xx3–xxx–xx)

The biological science or engineering research project is conducted under the guidance of (1) professional research staff at a Regulated Research Institution (RRI), (2) professional research staff at a company or government lab, (3) a professional research scientist or engineer providing advice, or (4) mentors other than teachers providing substantial guidance, data, or equipment not available in schools.

• RRI Physical Science and Engineering (grades 9–12 only) (Project #xx4–xxx–xx)

The physical-sciences or engineering research project is conducted under the guidanceof (1) professional research staff at a Regulated Research Institution (RRI), (2) professional research staff at a company or government lab, (3) a professional research scientist or engineer providing advice, or (4) mentors other than teachers providing substantial guidance, data, or equipment not available in schools.

FIELDS OF STUDY

Biological Sciences and Engineering

Plant Sciences (Project #xxx–2xx–xx)

• Agronomy
• Growth and Development
• Ecology
• Genetics/Breeding
• Pathology
• Physiology (Molecular, Cellular, Organismal)
• Systematics and Evolution

Animal Sciences (Project #xxx–3xx–xx)

• Animal Behavior
• Development
• Ecology
• Genetics
• Nutrition and Growth
• Pathology
• Physiology
• Systematics and Evolution

Biochemistry/ Microbiology (Project #xxx–4xx–xx)

• Analytical Biochemistry
• General Biochemistry
• Medicinal Biochemistry
• Structural Biochemistry
• Metabolism
• Cell Physiology
• Cellular and Molecular Genetics
• Immunology
• Molecular Biology
• Neurobiology
• Antibiotics, Antimicrobials
• Bacteriology
• Microbial Genetics
• Virology
• Food Biotechnology*
• Food Characterization*

*Note: Food Science and Engineering projects are encouraged but projects those which use human subjects or vertebrate animals are not permitted. This includes projects which involve tasting food or using questionnaires to collect data.

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (grades 9–12 only)
(Project #xxx–5xx–xx)

• Algorithms, Connecting Databases for generating new knowledge of biology and medicine, and improving & discovering new models of computation or Computational Biomodeling
• Bioinformatics
  • Biochip
  • Cheminformatics
  • Chemogenomics
  • Connectomics
    • Human Connectome Project
  • Glycomics
  • Immunomics
  • Lipidomics
  • Metabolomics
  • Microbiomics
  • Nutrigenomics
  • Paleopolyploidy
  • Pharmacogenetics
  • Pharmacogenomics
  • Toxicogenomics
  • Transcriptomics
• Computational Evolutionary Biology
• Computational Neuroscience
• Computational Pharmacology
• Genomics
  • Cognitive genomics
  • Computational genomics
  • Comparative genomics
  • Functional genomics
  • Genome project
    • Human Genome Project
  • Metagenomics
  • Pangenomics
  • Personal genomics
  • Social genomics
  • Structural genomics
• Image Analysis
• Structural Biology
  • Proteomics
    • Human proteome project
  • Cell-map proteomics
  • Structure-based drug design
  • Expression proteomics

Biomedical and Health Sciences (Project #xxx–6xx–xx)

• Biostatistics
• Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
• Drug Development and Testing
• Epidemiology
• Human Genetics
• Nutrition
• Physiology and Pathology
• Systems Biology
• Vaccine Development

Biomedical Engineering (Project #xxx-7xx-xx)

• Biomedical technology
• Biomedical diagnostics
• Biomedical therapy
• Biomechanics
• Biomaterials

Physical Sciences and Engineering:

Chemistry (Project #xxx–Axx–xx)

• Analytical Chemistry
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Computational and Theory
• Environmental Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Nanomaterials
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymers
• Theoretical Chemistry
  • Computational Chemistry
  • Molecular Dynamics
  • Statistical Mechanics
  • Quantum Chemistry

Chemical/Environmental Engineering (Project #xxx-Bxx-xx)

• Alternative Energy
• Fossil Fuel Energy
• Fuel Cells and Battery Development
• Materials Engineering
• Process Engineering
• Food Process Design and Engineering*
• Solar Materials
• Bioremediation
• Ecosystems Management, Forestry
• Land Reclamation
• Pollution Control: Air, Water, Soil
• Recycling and Waste Management
• Water Resources Management
  
  *Note: Food Science and Engineering projects are encouraged but projects which use human subjects or vertebrate animals are not permitted. This includes projects which involve tasting food or using questionnaires to collect data.

Earth and Environmental Sciences (Project #xxx–Cxx–xx)

• Atmospheric Science, Weather
• Climate Science
• Environmental Effects on Ecosystems
• Geosciences
• Planetary Geology
• Soil Science
• Tectonics
• Water Sciences

Physics and Astronomy (Project #xxx–Dxx–xx)

• Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
• Astronomy and Cosmology
• Biological Physics
• Computational Physics and Astrophysics
• Condensed Matter and Materials
• Instrumentation
• Magnetics, Electromagnetics, and Plasmas
• Mechanics
• Nuclear and Particle Physics
• Optics, Lasers, Masers
• Theoretical Physics

Electrical Engineering (Project #xxx–Exx–xx)

• Circuits
• Computer Hardware
• Controls
• Electrical, Optical and Magnetic Materials
• Embedded Systems
• Internet of Things
• Networking and Data Communication
• Sensors
• Signal Processing
• Wearable technology

Mechanical Engineering (Project #xxx–Fxx–xx)

• Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering
• Aerodynamics
• Civil Engineering, Construction Engineering
• Computational Mechanics
• Computational Energy
• Control Theory
• Ground Vehicle Systems
• Industrial Engineering
• Marine Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Robotics and Intelligent Machines
• Solar Energy

Mathematics (Project #xxx–Gxx–xx)

• Algebra
• Analysis
• Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Game Theory
• Computer Mathematics
• Geometry and Topology
• Number Theory
• Probability and Statistics  

Software Engineering (Project #xxx-Hxx-xx)

• Algorithms
• Analytics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Benchmarking
• Big Data
• Cloud Computing
• Cognitive Computing
• Cybersecurity
• Computer Graphics, Simulations, Image Processing
• Computer Systems, Operating Systems
• Data Science
• Databases
• Machine Learning
  • Neural Networks and Deep Learning
• Mobile Computing
• Networking and Communications
• Programming Languages
• Quantum Computing

PROJECT NUMBER ASSIGNMENTS

Project numbers are coded first by grade (06 to 12), then by the four categories, and then by the fields of study within each category. The check character (1–9, A–H) and team code (1 or 2) is on the end.

In general, project numbers are assigned as:

GGC-FNN-KT

• GG = grade (06-12)
• C = category (1–4)
• F = field of study (1–7, A–H)
• NN = ID number within category/field of study (10–99)
• K = check character (1–9, A–H)
• T = individual or team (1–2)

Examples of individual projects:

• 093-510-91 = 9th grade, RRI biological science and engineering, computational biology and bioinformatics, individual project.
• 101-210-31 = 10th grade, non RRI biological science and engineering, plant science, individual project.
• 112-D10-61 = 11th grade, non RRI physical science and engineering, physics, individual project.
• 124-H10-11 = 12th grade, RRI physical science and engineering, software engineering, individual project.

Examples of team projects:

•  093-510-82 = 9th grade, RRI biological science and engineering, computational biology and bioinformatics, team project.
• 112-D10-52 = 11th grade, non RRI physical science and engineering, physics, team project.
• 124-H10-D2 = 12th grade, RRI physical science and engineering, software engineering, team project.
• 101-212-B2 = 10th grade, non RRI biological science and engineering, plant science, team project.