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STEM Fairs, Competitions, Programs & other challenges

scienceThis page includes materials related to conducting STEM fairs and competitions from a variety of different sources. Science Books & Films publishes a wealth of information, including reviews, on science fairs in each year’s October issue.

Websites about Science Fairs & Competitions:

All Science Fair Projects http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/index.php

Conducting a Successful Science Fair http://sciencenetlinks.com/tools/science-buddies/

Crystal Clear Science Fair Projects http://www.crystal-clear-science-fair-projects.com/

Discovery School – Science Fair Central http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/

Internet Public Library Science Fair Project Resource Guide http://www.ipl.org/div/projectguide/

Science Buddies http://www.sciencebuddies.org/

Science Fair Projects and Experiments http://www.juliantrubin.com/fairprojects.html 

USDA’s Agricultural Ideas for Science Fair Ideas http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/fair/ideas.htm

USGS’ Science Fair Project Ideas http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids/sciencefair.php

STEM Fairs and Competitions:

Aeronautics competition for high school & college (NASA) http://aero.larc.nasa.gov/competitions.htm

Badger State Science & Engineering Fairs http://bssef.org/

Capital Science & Engineering Fair (Wisconsin) http://allen.neep.wisc.edu/sciencefair/

Christopher Columbus Awards (middle school) http://www.christophercolumbusawards.com/

Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge http://www.youngscientistchallenge.com/

E-cybermission competition http://www.ecybermission.com/

EGGS Prize (middle school) http://www.xprize.org/education-initiatives/eggs-prize-program

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) http://www.usfirst.org/

Google Science Fair http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/index.html

IMSTEA Super Mileage Challenge http://www.doe.state.in.us/octe/technologyed/SuperMileageChallenge.html

Intel Science Talent Search http://www.intel.com/education/sts/

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair http://www.intel.com/about/corporateresponsibility/education/isef/index.htm

International Chemistry Olympiad http://www.icho.sk/

International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) http://imo.math.ca/ 
[IMO is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held annually in a different country]

Junior Science and Humanities Symposium http://www.jshs.org/about.html

Mathematical Association of America’s American Mathematical Competitions http://www.unl.edu/amc/
(this site has multiple competitions for students in upper elementary to college)

National Engineers Week: Future City Competition™ http://www.futurecity.org/

National Geographic Bee http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographybee/index.html

National Ocean Sciences Bowl http://www.nosb.org/

Regional Ocean Sciences Bowls http://www.nosb.org/?anchor=coaches

Newhouse Program & Architecture Competition (Chicago) http://caf.architecture.org/page.aspx?pid=558

Putnam Mathematical Competition http://math.scu.edu/putnam/index.html
(undergraduate level administered by the Mathematical Association of America)

Redesign Your School http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=redesign_your_school

Robotics Competitions

Sanofi-aventis International BioGENEius Challenge http://www.biotechinstitute.org/node/1374

TOY challenge (5th – 8th graders) https://www.sallyridescience.com/node/62

U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad (High School) http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=528&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=9fc76fae-eaef-48a4-8ad9-6361f8f8a38e

Write On! Wetlands Challenge (K-6 and 7-9) http://www.wetland.org/education_writeon.htm

WWW Virtual Library: Science Fairs http://physics.usc.edu/ScienceFairs/

STEM Programs & Awards:

(The) Coleopterists Society’s Youth Incentive Award (grades 7-12) http://coleopsoc.org/default.asp?Action=Show_SocietyInfo&ID=Youth

InvenTeams http://web.mit.edu/inventeams/about.html

Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth (WCATY) http://www.wcaty.org/

Ultimate Challenges:

Here are some top challenges/prizes which need some answers. This is what research is all about. Good luck!

AAAS’ 125 Questions: What We Don’t Know (1 July 2005 issue) http://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/125th/

The Clay Mathematics Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts (CMI) Prize Problems
http://www.claymath.org/millennium/

The Draper Prize for Engineering Achievement http://www.draperprize.org/

Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/prizes/eppendorf/  

Gairdner International Award for Medicine http://www.gairdner.org/  

GE & Science Prize for Young [early career] Life Scientists http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/prizes/ge/index.dtl [recognize outstanding Ph.D. graduate students from around the world and reward their research in the field of molecular biology]

InnoCentive http://www.innocentive.com/
     -   read Science by the Masses (Science vol 319, 28 March 2008)  

iPlant Collaborative’s Grand Challenges in Plant Sciences http://iplantcollaborative.org/  

Kavli Prize http://www.kavliprize.no/
[million dollar prizes in nanoscience, neuroscience and astrophysics]  

National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges in Engineering http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/  

National Academy of Sciences Awards http://www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/  

Nobel Prize http://nobelprize.org/  

Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/  

Waterman Award (NSF) http://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/waterman.jsp
[recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation]

X-Prize Foundation http://www.xprize.org/