Rules and Registration

Please choose a Quick Link from the information menu on the left.

Thank you for your volunteer interest form. You should expect a confirmation soon, and an email or phone call about a month before the fair.

Lunch to be determined

We provide you with lunch on whichever day(s) you volunteer.

• Wednesday March 13: Sign up here.
• Thursday March 14: You will select one of several available lunches after you arrive at the Convention Center.

Judging?

If you said you were available for project review and are a person with Biological Science or Bioinformatics background, please consider volunteering as a judge at the fair. To do this go to the Judges page of this website (info & signup at  http://science-fair.org/judges-3/

Questions?

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns at fairmanager@science-fair.org.

Teacher (or other Adult Sponsor)

Normally an Adult Sponsor is a student’s teacher. This individual must have a solid background in science and should have close contact with the student during the course of the project.

The Adult Sponsor is responsible for working with the student to evaluate any possible risks involved in order to ensure the health and safety of the student conducting the research and the humans and/or animals involved in the study. The Adult Sponsor must review the student’s Student Checklist (1A) and Research Plan to certify that that: a) experimentation is within local, state, and Federal laws and ISEF rules; b) forms are completed by other required adults; and c) criteria for the Qualified Scientist adhere to those set forth below.

The Adult Sponsor must be familiar with the regulations that govern potentially dangerous research as they apply to a specific student project. These may include chemical and equipment usage, experimental techniques, research involving human and/or vertebrate animals, and cell cultures, microorganisms, or animal tissues. Regulations must be discussed with the student when completing the Research Plan. Some experiments involve procedures or materials that are regulated by state, federal or non-U.S. national laws. If not thoroughly familiar with the regulations, the Adult Sponsor should help the student enlist the aid of a Qualified Scientist.

The Adult Sponsor is responsible for ensuring the student’s research is eligible for entry in the Synopsys Championship and that the student carries out experimentation safely. The responsibility for student safety shifts to a qualified scientist or designated supervisor if such forms are submitted.

Designated Supervisor

The Designated Supervisor is an adult who is directly responsible for overseeing student experimentation. The Designated Supervisor need not have an advanced degree, but must be thoroughly familiar with the student’s project, and must be trained in the student’s area of research. The Adult Sponsor may act as the Designated Supervisor.

The Qualified Scientist

A Qualified Scientist should have earned a doctoral/professional degree in a scientific discipline that relates to the student’s area of research. A PhD, MD or a master’s degree with additional experience and expertise in the student’s area of research is acceptable when approved by a Scientific Review Committee (SRC). The Qualified Scientist must be thoroughly familiar with local, state, and federal regulations that govern the student’s area of research.

The Qualified Scientist and the Adult Sponsor may be the same person, if that person is qualified as described above. A student may work with a Qualified Scientist in a city, state or country that is not where the student resides. In this case, the student must work locally with a Designated Supervisor (see above) who has been trained in the techniques to be applied by the student.

Related ISEF web page: Roles and Responsibilities of Students and Adults

The Student Researcher

The student researcher is responsible for all aspects of the research project including enlisting the aid of any required supervisory adults (Adult Sponsor, Qualified Scientist, etc.), obtaining necessary approvals (SRC, IRB, etc.), following the Rules & Guidelines of the Synopsys Championship, and performing the experimentation, engineering, data analysis, etc.

Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. This includes plagiarism, forgery, use or presentation of other researcher’s work as one’s own, and fabrication of data. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for competition in the Synopsys Championship and ISEF. Both the Society for Science & the Public and SCVSEFA reserve the right to revoke recognition of a project subsequently found to have been fraudulent.  Students who have their projects removed from competition for fraud or misconduct may not enter the Synopsys Championship the following year.

1. Inexpensive display boards and other display aids are available at most office and art supply stores.
2. Use type families and colored backgrounds to associate groups of information throughout your display. Remember that black or dark type is easiest to read and that judges do notice spelling and grammar.
3. Your title should be big, easy to read, and capture the spirit of your research. You can use two titles if you wish, a scientific one on top and one for the lay audience below it.
4. Possible sections for your board might include: Introduction, Background/Research, Hypothesis, Experimental Design, Data, Data Interpretation, Conclusion/Discussion, Further Research.
5. “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Photographs and drawings are good display tools: they help your audience understand your research and are eye-catching aids for your display. Remember you need written consent (Form 4) if you use a photograph of anyone other than yourself.
6. Proper attribution is required for all photos, graphics, graphs, diagrams, images, and other visuals. Citations must be clear and professional. Please refer to How to Cite Photos, Graphics, Graphs & Online Images on Your Project Display Board for guidance.
7. Use the largest possible visuals and type. Important text should be legible from at least three feet away. Use font sizes of at least 24 points on your display board.
8. Use brief statements. Aim to have three to five bulleted statements, each 10 to 20 words per section.
9. Tables of numerical data have a place—but maybe it’s in the notebook rather than on the display board. Use graphs or charts instead of tables wherever possible.
10. Label the units of measurement used on each chart axis (e.g., “Centimeters of Rain,” “Years,” “Number of Ladybugs”). Use metric (SI) measurements and scientific names if possible.
11. Caption your graphs and charts and indicate trends, conclusions drawn, etc.
12. Project Board should not to exceed 15 inches (38 cm) deep, front to back; 48 inches (122 cm) wide, side to side; and 5 ft (150 cm) high above the table top. Display materials must fit on the table in front of your board. This space is approx. 15″ x 24″. Display boards of 3-4 ft height (vs 5 ft) are recommended for readability by the judges.

First and Foremost

ANY PROJECT IN VIOLATION OF SCVSEFA, ISEF OR CALIFORNIA EDUCATION RULES AND REGULATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Avoid Science Fair Projects That Are Unlikely to be Accepted

1. Effect of colored light, music, or talking on plant growth (OK at middle school if variables included)
2. Crystal growth (OK at middle school if variables included)
3. Effect of cola, coffee, etc. on teeth (OK at middle school if variables included)
4. Strength/absorbency of paper towels (discouraged because seen often)
5. Most consumer product testing of the “Which is best?” type (OK grades 6–8 only)
6. Astrology projects
7. Maze running (unless there are variables and controls)
8. Any project that boils down to simple preferences
9. Optical Illusions
10. Planaria worm regeneration (unless project has variables and >10/group)
11. Detergents vs. Stains (OK at middle school if variables included).
12. Basic solar collectors or ovens (OK if engineering design variables included)
13. Acid rain projects (To be considered, thorough research into the composition of acid rain and a scientifically accurate simulation of it would be necessary.)
14. Basic flight testing, e.g., planes, rockets (OK if variables are included)
15. Battery life comparisons (plug-in and run-down type)
16. Any project involving the distillation of alcohol. (NOT PERMITTED)
17. Pyramid power
18. Color choices of goldfish, etc.
19. Basic chromatography (OK at middle school if variables are included)
20. Wing, fin shape comparison (OK if mass is taken into consideration)

Avoid Projects that Lack a Measurable Endpoint

Results should be expressed in units of growth, size, mass, speed, time, volume, frequency, replication rate, chemical product analysis, etc.

Avoid Overly-Common Projects

The following projects may meet all requirements but often do not win awards because they are too commonly encountered by judges. With frequently done projects, acceptance may be granted if they have an original twist with exceptional thoroughness and solid scientific method.

1. Comparison of plant growth in different fertilizers
2. Rusting of nails in different pH solutions
3. Comparison of strength in different bridge designs
4. Strength of paper towels

Projects Taken from the Internet

Projects taken directly from the Internet are considered plagiarism, and may be disqualified. Judges may identify projects similar to examples posted on the Internet and they will be ranked low for creativity. Examples of projects from sites such as www.sciencebuddies.org are good sources of inspiration, but the idea for your project should be original.

Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. This includes plagiarism, forgery, use or presentation of other researcher’s work as one’s own and fabrication of data. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for competition in the Synopsys Championship and subsequent affiliated fairs. SCVSEFA reserves the right to revoke recognition of a project subsequently found to have been fraudulent. Students who have their projects removed from competition for fraud or misconduct may not enter the Synopsys Championship the following year.

Check Project Status

After submitting and paying for their applications, students are responsible for tracking project status using the “Check Project Status” button above. Projects are listed by teacher and Project Number. If payment was successful, the Project Code will appear in the “Payment Submitted” line at the top of the Synopsys Championship Project Status page. Status updates will follow SRC review, which may take 2–4 weeks. If a project isn’t listed, please contact the fair administrators.

Project Status Definitions

Application Accepted
Everything is complete and approved. You may begin your project.

Application Received / Awaiting Review for Completeness
Your application is submitted and waiting for SRC to review for completeness.

Waiting for SRC/IRB Review
Your application is submitted and waiting for SRC to review for completeness.

Application Incomplete / See Your Teacher
An email has been sent to the student and teacher with details. Common reasons it is incomplete:

• Quality issues: Procedures do not meet Minimum Quality Requirements. Resubmit your improved procedures as an email reply to the note sent by the Scientific Review Committee.
• Forms issues: Missing or incorrect forms—correct as specified and monitor your status until listed as “Accepted.”

Project Not Qualified
Project cannot be approved due to major safety hazards, rules violations that can not be corrected, missed SRC pre-approval deadlines, or an ineligible Field of Study.

Project Withdrawn
Withdrawn by the student or teacher.

No Show
A project that was accepted but not presented at the Synopsys Championship.

Eligibility

There is a diagram to help determine eligibility for the Synopsys Championship.

• All students who are younger than 20 years old on or before March 1 preceding the Championship and who attend school in Santa Clara County in grades 6–12 are eligible to enter unless they have entered (or plan to enter) another ISEF-affiliated fair in the same school year. Click here to see a list of Santa Clara County cities.
• Homeschooled students who attend a home school located in Santa Clara County are eligible to enter, even if they participate in online classes from outside the county.
• Students who live in Santa Clara County and attend an online school full-time are eligible to enter.
• Students who attend school in Santa Clara County but complete projects at Registered Research Institutions in another locale are eligible to enter.

A student may participate in only one project.

• Individual projects – $40 application processing fee
• Team projects—$50 application processing fee for a team of 2-3 students entering a team project. All members of a team must be eligible under the rules. SCVSEFA strongly recommends teams with just 2 students.
• All projects will be judged for scientific merit using the same criteria regardless of the number of individuals preparing the projects.

General Rules

1. The Synopsys Championship is an ISEF affiliated fair. We follow the ISEF Rules and Guidelines and expect all students to read and abide by the ISEF ethics statement.
2. The greatest number of rule infractions in the last 2 years involved students making apps or other devices that claimed to treat or diagnose any illness.  All such projects must be done under the guidance of a qualified doctor and be submitted for pre-approval.
3. “Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. Such practices include plagiarism, forgery, use or presentation of other researcher’s work as one’s own, and fabrication of data. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for competition in affiliated fairs and ISEF. [SCVSEFA and the] Society for Science and the Public reserve the right to revoke recognition of a project subsequently found to have been fraudulent.”
   Students who have their projects removed from competition for fraud or misconduct may not enter the Synopsys Championship the following year.
4. Carefully read the web page about Project Types and Minimum Quality Requirements. Please adhere to these requirements or your project will fail to qualify for competition.
5. The Adult Sponsor Checklist (Form 1) should be used to ensure that the Application is complete. The Application and Forms may be downloaded, completed and saved as PDFs. Additional forms are required for some projects. The ISEF Rules Wizard can also help you determine which forms to complete.
6. Projects requiring SRC pre-approval before beginning experimentation must be submitted by the appropriate date. Our only deviation from the ISEF Rules is that, for safety reasons, we request that projects involving chemicals, hazardous activities and devices or regulated substances also seek pre-approval.
7. ALL students who participated previously in our fair or any ISEF affiliated fair MUST apply for SRC pre-approval and file a continuation form (Form 7). The SRC will determine if the project is a continuation or not. Continuation projects must involve significant new work and only the current year’s research may be in the project presentation.
8. Projects must comply with all local, state and federal laws as well as SCVSEFA and ISEF Rules. We reserve the right to fail to qualify the project of any student who does not follow these. Review the Project Display Rules to ensure your project complies on fair day.
9. For the 2027 Synopsys Championship the research work must be done between Jan. 1, 2026 and March 2027 (with no more than 12 months total time).
10. All MIDDLE SCHOOL projects (grades 6-8) must be done in the school, home, or field.  No projects will be admitted for work done in a research institution.
11. HIGH SCHOOL projects (grades 9-12) may be done in a Regulated Research Institution (RRI) such as a university, college, or professional research institution, provided all rules regarding their use are followed. An RRI project supervisor (PhD level only) should fill out and sign the appropriate forms. See Who Can Sponsor.
12. Science Fair policy for students who should have been judged as RRI, but registered incorrectly and were judged as non-RRI: 1) downgrade the Category Award one level, 2) downgrade two levels, or 3) disqualify the student from Category Awards and the State Fair. One option will be chosen by SCVSEFA depending on the facts of the case. In addition, other award winners in the same judging team will be upgraded one level as appropriate.
13. Parent sponsored projects (PSPs) are permitted in certain situations. See Who Can Sponsor.
14. On judging day, students must be present starting at 1:30 PM for high school students and 2:00 PM for middle school students. Students must be present at individual projects to be judged. For team projects, at least one eligible team member must be present to be judged, however judges may reduce project scores if they are not able to confirm that all members of the team contributed appropriately.
15. For non-RRI projects, projects are judged by grade by Category Judges, however 11^th and 12^th grade projects may be judged together to improve the quality of judging.

The Student Researcher(s)

The student researcher is responsible for all aspects of the research project including enlisting the aid of any required supervisory adults (Adult Sponsor, Qualified Scientist, etc.), obtaining necessary approvals (SRC, IRB, etc.), following the Rules & Guidelines of the Synopsys Championship, and performing the experimentation, engineering, data analysis, etc.  High school students should list their sponsoring high school teacher as the Adult Sponsor except in some cases where the project was done at an RRI (see above).

Use of a non-school research site or Regulated Research Institute.

Projects done at Regulated Research Institutions (RRI) will be judged for Category Awards with other RRI projects.  Projects done at school or home will be judged against non-RRI projects.

Notes about Judging

Students choose a Category and Field of Study for their project. An accurate choice of the Field of Study increases the likelihood that the project will be assigned to judges who understand and appreciate the project. The SRC may recommend or require a change of category after reviewing your project. A science project involves a study, hypothesis and experiment.  An engineering project involves an application, design or device and an engineering goal.

• The codes used to assign project numbers may have changed. For more information on Categories, Fields of Study and project numbers, go to the Project Categories page.
• For Category Awards, projects will be judged by category in groups of about 8 to 12 projects by at least two judges. Projects are judged with projects from similar fields of study.
• Projects done at home, school or in the field (non RRI) continue to be judged by grade and category. Math projects may be grouped together and not judged by grade. Projects (grades 9 to 12 only) done at Regulated Research Institutions (RRI) are judged by category only. (Category judging in the California Science & Engineering Fair and International Science and Engineering Fair is also not done by grade).  Awards will be given in four categories. The overall % category awards given remains the same (about 40%) total.

In person interviews with judges may last up to 8-10 minutes.

Students should be prepared to give a one to two minute verbal description of their project (no slide presentations). Students need to explain their complete projects in terms that the judges can understand. Then judges will ask the students questions about their projects.

Remember to list the website in your references if the idea for your project came from a website.

Judges may disqualify projects from awards if coaching or prompting by other adults is observed by judges during the interview.