Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair
2026 Awards

On behalf of our sponsors, board of directors, and staff, the Minnesota Academy of Science congratulates all student presenters for their excellent research and presentations in the 2026 state competition!

This year, over 400 students from across Minnesota were selected at Regional Science Fairs and competed at the Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair. Over forty companies and organizations awarded more than $20,000 in cash prizes and other awards, gifts, and opportunities. Additionally, top projects advanced to the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair. See below for more information about each award and the 2026 award winners.

Scroll down to learn more about this year’s awards!

Minnesota Academy of Science Awards

HS-EBED-066 Maraike Fortin (Savage), Dream Mornings - a sleep cycle adaptive alarm clock (raspberry pi based)

HS-EBED-620 Aditi Gandhi (Edina), Continuous Low-Cost Proxy Monitoring System for Chloramine Detection in Indoor Pool Air

HS-ENEV-500 John Liu (St. Paul), Passive Capillary-Evaporative Lithium Pre-Concentration from Dilute Brines Using Functionalized Corn Stalk Pith and Wheat Straw Scaffolds

HS-CELL-610 Evan Morris (New Brighton), SILENCE: On-demand seizure suppression via closed-loop sonogenetics

HS-MATS-583 Vick Tan (Eden Prairie), Colorimetric Arsenic Detection at Micromolar Concentrations and Machine Learning Assisted Development of a Composite Teabag for Arsenic Bioremediation in Drinking Water

2026 ISEF Alternates

HS-CBIO-493 Vedant Gupta (Maple Grove), Insulock-2E: A Computationally Designed Insulin Peptide Enhancing MHC-DQ8 Binding And Predicted to Disrupt Autoreactive T-Cells in Type 1 Diabetes

HS-EGSD-619 Anthony Dosev (Chanhassen), Development of cost-effective biochar supercapacitors for high-performance, sustainable energy storage

HS-ENBM-533 Jacob Lee (Minnetonka), A Novel Intraoperative Guidance and Real-Time Dosimetry for GammaTile Brachytherapy in Brain Tumor Surgery

HS-SOFT-514 Zack Berchenko (North Oaks), Recurrent Neural Networks on Directed Multigraphs

HS-TMED-496 Riddhi Singhvi (Woodbury), Bite Balance: A Novel Scoring System for Type 2 Diabetes Management Integrating Diet, Exercise, and the Gut Microbiome

Grand Awards

The Grand Awards recognize excellence in STEM research at the middle school and high school level. The top 5% of projects presented at SSEF receive the Gold Award. The next 10% of projects receive the Silver Award and the next 15% of projects receive the Bronze Award. Projects are ranked according to judge scores and the competitiveness of the category in which students present. 

Gold Award

High School

Middle School

Silver Award

High School

Middle School

Bronze Award

High School

Middle School

Minnesota Academy of Science Board of Directors Award

The Minnesota Academy of Science Board of Directors Award is given to 10+ students showing exceptional promise at the 2026 State Science and Engineering Fair. The prize is $50 and a certificate.

Medtronic Awards

The Minnesota Academy of Science is grateful to Medtronic, the Premier Sponsor of the 2026 Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair.

All award winners receive an exclusive invitation to the Medtronic Tech Fellows Day.

Medtronic Innovation Award

The Medtronic Innovation Award recognizes students whose projects exemplify excellence through innovative outside-the-box ideas, self-motivated independent work, passion for discovery and science, and the potential to impact their category or the world.

High School - 1st Place ($750):

HS-ENBM-030 Adam Jacobson (Grand Rapids), Cast Away the Problem Cast!

High School - 2nd Place ($500):

HS-CELL-568 Eshaan Parnerkar (Plymouth), Evaluating the impact of mutant ATXN1 microglia on phagocytic function and disease symptoms in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1

High School - 3rd Place ($250):

HS-ENEV-593 William Tan (Eden Prairie), Building the First AI-Enabled Smart Artificial Reef (AISAR)

Middle School - 1st Place ($750):

MS-ENEV-557 Isabella Garry (Eden Prairie), Microplastic Removal from Simulated Gastric Fluid Using Natural Mucilage Flocculants

Middle School - 2nd Place ($500):

MS-ENEV-511 Arika Kundu (Excelsior), LIGNEX - A Novel Biosorption-Based Approach that Uses Agricultural Waste Material to Eliminate Pesticide Residues from Fresh Produce

MIddle School - 3rd Place ($250):

MS-ENEV-576 Olivia Lin (Minnetonka), Making Water Soft-Is Soft Water Clean?

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award

The Medtronic Technical Achievement Award recognizes students whose projects demonstrate excellence through imagination and inventiveness, tackling a challenging technical question, rigorous scientific inquiry and execution, and the potential to solve a technical problem.

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award: Biomedical Applications
High School Winner ($500): HS-CELL-565 Martin Marshall with Yuchen Shi (Bloomington & Golden Valley), Mind Mail: Optimizing cell-specific, brain-derived exosome isolation to enable minimally invasive detection of neuroinflammation

Middle School Winner ($500): MS-ROBO-080 Alek Kokotovich (Savage), Developing Low-Cost Household Aids for Visually Impaired Users

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award: Science & Engineering
High School Winner ($500): HS-CELL-633 Avital Coleman (St. Paul), Restoring Movement After Spinal Cord Injury: Optogenetic Dissection of Genetically Identified Spinal Glutamatergic Neurons in Larval Zebrafish

Middle School Winner ($500): MS-ENEV-673 Olivia Zhou (Eden Prairie), Make Ocean Clean Again – With the help of Ferrofluids and Sound Waves

Medtronic Technical Achievement Award: Sustainability
High School Winner ($500): HS-EGSD-619 Anthony Dosev (Chanhassen), Development of cost-effective biochar supercapacitors for high-performance, sustainable energy storage

Middle School Winner ($500): MS-ENEV-643 Alex Samba (Edina), MOF's and Algae: Building a Machine to Capture Carbon in the Air

SPECIAL SPONSORED AWARDS

In alphabetical order

3M

3M science applied to life award

This award acknowledges students whose projects make a lasting, positive impact on their local or global community through innovation, creativity, and scientific exploration.

High School - 1st Place ($500)

HS-EBED-066 Maraike Fortin Savage), Dream Mornings - a sleep cycle adaptive alarm clock (raspberry pi based)

High School - 2nd Place ($300)

HS-ENEV-567 Joseph David (Corcoran), Pharmablast: A Synthetic Data Generation for Pharmaceutical Based Microplastic Detection in Water Systems

High School - 3rd Place ($200)

HS-MCRO-649 Nathanim Tekle (Minneapolis), Effects of Ferric Citrate Concentration on the Growth of E.coli K-12 and Bacillus subtilis: Implications for Anemia

Middle School - 1st Place ($500)

MS-ENEV-612 Rhea Hittin (Woodbury), StyroLoop: A decentralized approach to Styrofoam reintegration into the circular economy

Middle School - 2nd Place ($300)

MS-EBED-487 Anchit Kumarv (Plymouth), Tri-Way Communication Between Deaf, Blind, and Non-Impaired People

MIddle School - 3rd Place ($200)

MS-ENEV-035 Albert Fay (Thief River Falls), Adaptive Fishing Pole

3M young inventor recognition

This award recognizes students who demonstrate unique resourcefulness in their approach to innovation, finding ways to do more with less, discovering new solutions to difficult problems.

High School Winners ($100):
HS-BMED-550 Sloane Dunn (Eagan), Vaccine Hesitancy Impact on Measles Outbreaks

HS-TECA-631 Ethan Finch (Afton), ArticuRace: Closing the Global Speech Therapy Gap through a Low-Resource and Interpretable AI Framework

HS-EBED-620 Aditi Gandhi (Edina), Continuous Low-Cost Proxy Monitoring System for Chloramine Detection in Indoor Pool Air

HS-MATS-508 Mattias Halloran (St. Paul), Hemin-Activated Lipid Nanoparticles for Targeted Drug Delivery in Hemorrhagic Stroke

HS-ENBM-533 Jacob Lee (Minnetonka), A Novel Intraoperative Guidance and Real-Time Dosimetry for GammaTile Brachytherapy in Brain Tumor Surgery

HS-ETSD-592 Helen Liu (Minneapolis), The Adjustable Body Chute (ABC): A novel training parachute that prevents tangling and lets swimmers adjust their resistance

HS-CELL-610 Evan Morris (New Brighton), SILENCE: On-demand seizure suppression via closed-loop sonogenetics

HS-ENBM-064 Carter Olson (Prior Lake), CogniFlex

HS-BEHA-085 Meghana Parvath (Lakeville), Mental Health Challenges of Immigrant Mothers

HS-SOFT-087 Satva Patel and Mukil Iniyan Senthil Kumar (Carver & Victoria), Beyond Accuracy: A Cost-Aware CNN That Eliminates Catastrophic Wildfire Misclassification

HS-PHYS-723 Reva Patel (Rochester), Optimizing Navigator-Guided Motion Correction to Enhance Early MRI Detection of Prostate Cancer through Controlled Phantom Analysis

HS-EBED-635 Shagun Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), A.W.A.R.E.-Development of an AI-Based Real-Time Wearable Auditory Recognition and Emergency Detection System for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals using Acoustic Analysis

HS-EGSD-781 Xinlai Tan (Plymouth), Optimal Design of Spread Foundations for Wind Turbines 

HS-CELL-057 Bridger Weekley (Moorhead), Utilizing Agroinifltration and Pistil Dripping to Investigate the IPT Gene's Role in Maintaining Osmotic Stress Resistance in Brassica rapa

HS-SOFT-534 Huxley Westemeier (Minneapolis), INTRINSIC: Parameter-Free Private Keystroke Classification with Normalized Relative Compression

Middle School Winners ($100):
MS-ENEV-547 Abdulrahman Ali (St. Paul), Is a steamer or a UV box a better homemade alternative to industrial cleaning products?

MS-EBED-067 Dominik Fortin (Savage), Ghostwalker - A scent masking device for hunters

MS-EAEV-033 Kora Fuhrer (Thief River Falls), The Knot Wars

MS-ENEV-557 Isabella Garry (Eden Prairie), Microplastic Removal from Simulated Gastric Fluid Using Natural Mucilage Flocculants

MS-EAEV-611 Raqad Hasan and Maryama Musa (Minneapolis & Minnetonka), How Temperature Differences Can Expand Geothermal Energy Beyond Volcanic Regions

MS-MATS-663 Sophia Iordanoglou with Kinaari Shah (Plymouth & Minneapolis), How do different glues affect the life of a pointe shoe?

MS-PLNT-628 Corinne James (St. Paul), Hydroponics: The Way of the Future

MS-BMED-765 Maria Kenderian (Rochester), Identification of Microplastics in Bottled Beverages

MS-EGSD-558 Fatoumata Marong (Elk River), Harness the Wind: How Wind Turbine Designs Impact Electricity Generation

MS-MATS-634 Asher Mays (St. Paul), How does cheap vs expensive frisbees affect flight time and distance

MS-PHYS-527 James Postma (Blaine), Stick With It: The Effect of Friction on Adhesion

MS-CBIO-772 Yazhini Siva Arumugam (Rochester), Predicting Vaccine Effectiveness Using BLAST

MS-ETSD-065 Malcolm Steffen (Prior Lake), Inner Strength: Studying Infill Patterns of 3D-Printed Beams

MS-BMED-787 Keyu Wang (Golden Valley), Is boiled tap water more sanitary and healthy to drink than tap?

MS-EAEV-741 Patrick Zeilstra (Rochester), Wilderness Water: Testing the best way to purify water in the wild

American Chemical Society (ACS), Minnesota Section

Outstanding Experimental Project in CHemistry

This award recognizes an outstanding high school chemistry/biochemistry project. Honorable mentions will receive a one-year subscription to ChemMatters, the ACS publication for high school students.

High School Outstanding Project ($150): HS-CHEM-778 Ella England (St. Paul), Applications of Different Growing Conditions on Fungi P. chrysosporium and Their Effects on Plastic Mass and Polycarbonate Treatment for BPA

High School Honorable Mentions (subscription to ChemMatters):
HS-CHEM-528 Mehreen Najeeb (Maple Grove), CARE: A novel enamel remineralization tooth tray for fluoridated water communities 

HS-CHEM-542 Elizabeth Mader (Marine), Influence of pH and Dietary Ligands on Calcium Ion Availability in Simulated Gastric Media as Measured by Ion Specific Electrode

HS-ENEV-015 Ethan Lavan (Cloquet), Investigating the rate of hydrogen sulfide removal by Manganese GreensandPlus®  for use in large-scale wastewater treatment

Middle School Outstanding Project ($100): MS-CHEM-010 Morrison Randall (Cloquet), Blast opH! Antacid Rockets!

Middle School Honorable Mentions (subscription to ChemMatters):

MS-CHEM-717 Sophia Brazell with Toryn Rabehl (Rochester), Electrolytes project

MS-CHEM-757 Claire Dockendorf with Charlotte Noseworthy (Rochester), Testing Biofuel Ingredient ratios 

American Fisheries Society, Minnesota Chapter

Aquatic Sciences achievement Award

This award recognizes projects focusing on aquatic science. Winners receive a book and a fishing pole.

High School:

HS-ENEV-187: Ellie Stroh (Minnetonka), An argument for overtopping breach modeling: a case study of the climate-resilience of the Lake Cliff dam in Dallas, Texas
HS-EAEV-100: Savanna Larson (Minnetonka) & Jos Buffington (Excelsior), PaleoENM: A novel machine learning model for understanding the Cretaceous analog for ecosystem disruption by future climate change
HS-ENEV-023: Ethan Lavan (Cloquet), Determining the Reaction Time of Sulfide Removal for Large-Scale Water Treatment
HS-ENEV-172: Agustin Robinson (Falcon Heights), Mycofiltration: Using Pleurotus Ostreatus to Remove Pollutants from Residential Runoff
HS-BMED-107: Amanda Hsu (Saint Paul), The effect of capsaicin on the heart rate of Daphnia magna under induced photoperiod stress
HS-EAEV-045: Isabella Wimmer (Richville), Phytoremediation of Escherichia coli in Aquatic Environments Using Elodea canadensis
HS-EAEV-028: Raelynn Wuollet (Cloquet), Duckweed types and their effects on contaminated water
HS-EAEV-105: Gustav Davidson (Chanhassen), Analyzing and measuring the potency of several removal methods of glyphosate within water

Middle School:
MS-ENEV-065: Nora Fay (Thief River Falls), Water Tester
MS-EAEV-095: Joshua Mills (Mound), Big Waves and Shifting Sands - How Waves Impact Water Quality
MS-CHEM-325: Axel Laack (Rochester) & Jude Absah (Rochester), Does source of tap water affect levels of nitrate?
MS-EAEV-147: Jameson Johnston (St. Paul), How Different Types of Buffer Zone Protect Shorelines
MS-EAEV-286: Arav Goyal (Rochester), How Effective are Hydrogels in Conserving Water?
MS-PHYS-299: Grady O'Brien (Rochester), Daniel McKie (Rochester) & Leyton McKimm (Rochester), How Does the Shape of the Boat Hull Affect the Boat's Drag Through the Water?

American Heart Association

American heart association community impact award

This award is given to a student whose project demonstrates community impact and equity in the pursuit of optimal health for all.

High School: HS-CBIO-180: Carmen Papp (Minnetonka), COVID-19 response in humanitarian settings: A novel case study of the Za’atari refugee camp after the release of the COVID-19 vaccine

Middle School: MS-ENEV-183: Mira Byers (Minneapolis), Trees: A Breath of Fresh Air

American Institute of Professional Geologists

Geology, Earth Science, Environmental Science, and Sustainability Excellence Award

This award is given to projects that demonstrate excellence in geology, earth science, environmental science or sustainability. Winners receive a geoscience handbook and a fossil specimen kit.

HS-EAEV-109: Graham Kailen Bennett (Minneapolis), Investigating Inequality from New Heights: Using Drone-Mounted PM2.5 Sensors to Characterize Air Pollution Sources, Pollutant Dispersion, and Socioeconomic Status
HS-ENEV-187: Ellie Stroh (Minnetonka), An argument for overtopping breach modeling: a case study of the climate-resilience of the Lake Cliff dam in Dallas, Texas
MS-EAEV-389: Fatoumata Marong (Elk River), Gardens in the Sky: How Greenroofs Impact Temperature

American Meteorological Society, Twin Cities Chapter

Twin Cities Meteorological Society award

The winners of this award receive a certificate and a weather radio.

HS-EAEV-109: Graham Kailen Bennett (Minneapolis), Investigating Inequality from New Heights: Using Drone-Mounted PM2.5 Sensors to Characterize Air Pollution Sources, Pollutant Dispersion, and Socioeconomic Status
HS-ENEV-187: Ellie Stroh (Minnetonka), An argument for overtopping breach modeling: a case study of the climate-resilience of the Lake Cliff dam in Dallas, Texas

American Psychological Association

Outstanding Research in Psychological Science

This award recognizes outstanding research in psychological science under the category of behavioral and social sciences or any category related to psychology at the high school level. The winner will receive a certificate and student membership.

HS-BEHA-117: Simran Kaur (Mankato), New AI-based approaches to assistive technology for individuals with autism-spectrum disorder

American Society of Plumbing Engineers

Best Display of Mechanical Engineering

This award is given to students at the high school level whose projects display the best use of mechanical engineering.

First Place ($350): HS-ENEV-200: John Liu (St. Paul), Solar-Enhanced Biomass-based Filtration System for Removing Microplastics and Heavy Metals

Second Place ($150): HS-EBED-119: Kevin Qiu (Maple Grove), Touch Sensor for Enhancing Robotic Elderly Care

Association for Women Geoscientists

Student Award for Geoscience Excellence

This award is given to a female student whose project exemplifies high standards of innovation and scientific excellence in the geosciences. Special consideration is given to projects that increase the public awareness of the geosciences, illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of the geosciences, and promote the sensitivity to the earth as a global system. The prize is a certificate.

HS-ENEV-187: Ellie Stroh (Minnetonka), An argument for overtopping breach modeling: a case study of the climate-resilience of the Lake Cliff dam in Dallas, Texas

Beckman Coulter

A global leader in advanced diagnostics, Beckman Coulter has challenged convention to elevate the diagnostic laboratory’s role in improving patient health for more than 80 years. Our mission is to Relentlessly Reimagine Healthcare, One Diagnosis at a Time – and we do this by applying the power of science, technology and the passion and creativity of our teams. We are honored to recognize students at the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair for their excellence in STEM fields. The Beckman Coulter scientists and engineers who volunteered as judges were impressed by the skill, knowledge and creativity of all of the award winners.

Beckman Coulter Awards FOR EXCELLENCE IN biology

High School ($1,000):
HS-CELL-124: Evan Morris (New Brighton), Shining Light on Synapses: A New Cost-Effective, Noninvasive Method to Advance Neurodegenerative Studies
HS-CELL-271: Srinidhi Babu (Rochester), Investigating the Role of p19Arf in Lung Cancer and Identifying Potential Gene-Targeted Therapies
Middle School ($500):
MS-CBIO-310: Grace Kaspar (Rochester), How Can a Generative AI-Powered Virtual Agent and a Mobile App Improve Better Manage Health and Lifestyle of Patients with Thyroid Diseases?
MS-BMED-126: Arnav Bahl (Minneapolis), Antibiotic Overuse : Emergence of Resistant Bacterial Strains

Beckman Coulter Awards FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGINEERING

High School ($1,000):
HS-ENBM-168: Mira Jayant (Excelsior), HOPE: A Novel Automated Device for Hemorrhage Control in Pediatric Firearm Emergencies
HS-SOFT-070: Huxley Westemeier (Minneapolis), Integrity: Generalized Artificial Image Classification with Noise Domain Localization
Middle School ($500):
MS-ENBM-316: Aditi Sriram (Rochester), Artifix-CNN: A Novel Convolutional Neural Network to Improve Accuracy of Photoplethysmography Heart Rate
MS-ENBM-323 - Jai Olson (Rochester), Diya Kapoor (Rochester) & Yash Parikh (Rochester), Measuring and Mitigating High Ambient Noise Exposure in Rochester Public Schools

Bolton & Menk Inc.

Bolton & Menk Young Inventor Award

The Bolton & Menk Young Inventor Award was designed to recognize young inventors who demonstrate innovation, creative thinking, and technical skills to support the belief that all people should live in safe, sustainable, and beautiful communities. Winners receive a $500 award, a Bolton & Menk t-shirt, a certificate, and a job shadow at the Bolton & Menk location closest to their hometown.

HS-CHEM-177: Alyssa Wang (Woodbury), Development of edible active coating films from agro-waste for produce preservation
HS-ENEV-172: Agustin Robinson (Falcon Heights), Mycofiltration: Using Pleurotus Ostreatus to Remove Pollutants from Residential Runoff
HS-ENEV-200: John Liu (St. Paul), Solar-Enhanced Biomass-based Filtration System for Removing Microplastics and Heavy Metals

All students at the science fair, as well as the winner of this prize, are encouraged to showcase their coding projects at Coolest Projects Global. Find out how.

Broadcom Foundation

Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award

This award recognizes a middle school student whose project shows a remarkable passion to improve a problem or concern in their community and who has made the link with creating a solution or the start to a solution with coding/computation in their project. The award includes a $250 gift card and a Raspberry Pi Foundation Official Raspberry Pi Pico Kit.

MS-ROBO-064: Alek Kokotovich (Savage), Expanding First Lego League Challenge (FLL-C) Robotics to Support Kids with Low Vision

DiaSorin

DiaSorin is honored to participate in this year’s MSSEF! We know the MSSEF experience is an exceptional means to encourage young STEM scholars and we aim to contribute to the strength and numbers of its participants. These individuals are critical to industries like our own and we recognize them as vital global assets for growth and innovation.

DiaSorin, Inc. MERIT Award

Diasorin Merit Awards recognize the best independent work at the middle school level demonstrating the scientific method. The prize is $100.

MS-ANIM-066: Olive Keefe (Minneapolis), Natural versus Chemical: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cricket Control Methods
MS-CHEM-167: Kimberly Hernandez (Richfield), The Muffin War: Baking Powder vs. Baking Soda
MS-PHYS-120: Connor Malsam (Excelsior), The Effects of Color and Light on Heat
MS-BMED-288: Ryan Mahr (Rochester), Does the type of screen time activity affect eye strain as measured by a novel blink rate detector?
MS-EGSD-135: Grace Mae Munkeby (Plymouth), Burning Daylight: How Does a Homemade Solar Air Heater Affect the Temperature of a Room?

DiaSorin, Inc. relativity award

The Diasorin, Inc. Relativity Award recognizes the best project involving the use of a family member or pet. The winner receives $30.

MS-BEHA-280: Jack Church (Rochester), How Does Music Affect Heart Rate? A Simple Study on human reactions to music.

Dr. Xue's Math School

Dr. Xue's Math School Special Creativity Award

This award recognizes best creative use of mathematics in pre-college science and research. The prize is a one hour free consultation session with Dr. Xue on academic planning or career development.

First Place: HS-MATH-223: Bryce Budijono (Excelsior), Redistricting the congressional districts of Wisconsin via Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm
Second Place: HS-MATH-053: Emmett Rose (Vernon Center), Shotgun Shell Composition and Resulting Spread

Ecolab

A trusted partner at nearly three million customer locations, Ecolab is the global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. With annual sales of $12 billion and more than 44,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions, data-driven insights and personalized service to advance food safety, maintain clean and safe environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiencies and sustainability for customers in the food, healthcare, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world.

Ecolab water vision award

Award winning projects are clearly presented, using excellent scientific data gathering and presentations practices, showcasing innovative ideas around the topics of water access, clean water, or water conservation.
High School ($700): HS-EAEV-045: Isabella Wimmer (Richville), Phytoremediation of Escherichia coli in Aquatic Environments Using Elodea canadensis
Middle School ($700): MS-ENEV-266: Freeda Ali (Rochester), The Gift of Clean Water : A Solar Powered Water Purification System

ecolab Food Safety Award

Award winning projects are clearly presented, using excellent scientific data gathering and presentations practices, showcasing innovative ideas around food safety—preserving the quality of food to prevent contamination and foodborne illness.
High School ($700): HS-CHEM-177: Alyssa Wang (Woodbury), Development of edible active coating films from agro-waste for produce preservation
Middle School ($700): MS-EAEV-276: Derrick Leng (Rochester), Observing Various Fruit Preservation Methods

Emerson Women’s Impact Network

Female in STEM Excellence Award

This award is given to one female high school student and one female middle school student. Winning projects are clearly presented, exemplify excellence in their category, and demonstrate high degree of difficulty, complexity, creativity, and innovation using excellent scientific data gathering and presentation practices.

High School ($500): HS-EBED-123: Shagun Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), In Search of Sound: Creating Solutions for Sound Localization Challenges Using BCI and ESB 32 to Aid Spatial Hearing Loss - Year 2

Middle School ($500): MS-ENEV-074: Arika Kundu (Eden Prairie), CRISP — Complete Real Time Intelligent Spoilage Prevention

Empowering Women in Science

Rosalind E. Franklin Perseverance in STEM Award

The Rosalind E. Franklin Perseverance in STEM Award recognizes woman-identifying or gender minority-identifying students who have demonstrated creativity, dedication, and perseverance in completing an exemplary research project. Winners receive $100.

High School: HS-EAEV-100: Savanna Larson (Minnetonka) & Jos Buffington (Excelsior), PaleoENM: A novel machine learning model for understanding the Cretaceous analog for ecosystem disruption by future climate change

Middle School: MS-CHEM-246: Alia Eiler (Elk River), Sugary Drinks Can Save Your Life

Good Chemistry

Good Chemistry Prize for Creativity

This award is given to a female middle school student whose project demonstrates creativity (including use of colors, textures, scents, etc). The winner receives a Good Chemistry candle refill kit, Good Chemistry perfume, waterbottle, and a framed certificate.

MS-BEHA-041: Zoe Vander Vorst (West Fargo), Emotion in Technicolor: A Study on the Effect of Color on Emotion

Hamline University Department of Physics

Excellence in Renewable Energy and Sustainability Award

This award recognizes high school students whose projects excel in utilizing renewable energy and driving sustainability initiatives. The prize is a certificate and a $100 scholarship toward a Hamline Physics Summer Camp (Young Physicist Camp or Microscope Adventure Camp).

HS-EAEV-194: Sriram Sureshkumar (Stillwater), From Carbon to Kilowatts: Biochar-Enhanced Electrochemical Systems for Simultaneous Carbon Sequestration and Power Generation
HS-EGSD-391: Vladimir Ditta (Blaine), Effect of Twist Angle on Savonius Turbine Efficiency
HS-EGSD-146: Amelia Klemme (Eden Prairie), Optimizing bioelectricity production efficiency in algal fuel cells

Institute of Food Technologists, Minnesota Section

Institute of technologists Food Science Award

This award recognizes projects related to food science. Learn more about careers in food science.

First Place High School ($500): HS-CHEM-177: Alyssa Wang (Woodbury), Development of edible active coating films from agro-waste for produce preservation
Second Place High School ($250): HS-CELL-209: Dmitry Bluvshtein (Minneapolis), Effect of Food Matrices on Yeast Health in Long-Term Stressful Environments

First Place Middle School ($500): MS-CHEM-167: Kimberly Hernandez (Richfield), The Muffin War: Baking Powder vs. Baking Soda
Second Place Middle School ($250): MS-MCRO-033: Diane Hope Ronoh (Duluth), Organic Vs Non-Organic Fruits Rate of Decomposition

Land O’ Lakes

Land O’Lakes Award for Food Innovation

For projects that demonstrate creativity, innovation, and excellence in the study of food science. The prize is $500.

High School Winners:
HS-ANIM-047: Evy Wagner (Richville), Various Egg Layer Feeds and Their Effect on Egg Production and Yolk Pigment
HS-CELL-209: Dmitry Bluvshtein (Minneapolis), Effect of Food Matrices on Yeast Health in Long-Term Stressful Environments

Middle School Winners:
MS-ENEV-074: Arika Kundu (Eden Prairie), CRISP — Complete Real Time Intelligent Spoilage Prevention
MS-CELL-191: Claire Carlson (Golden Valley), How well do different cleaning agents halt the anaerobic fermentation process of yeast and its carbon dioxide output?

Lemelson Foundation

Lemelson Early Inventor Prize

The Lemelson Early Inventor Prize highlights a young inventor at the middle school level whose project exemplifies the ideals of inventive thinking by identifying a challenge in their community and creating a solution that will improve the lives of others. The prize is $100 and a certificate.

MS-ENEV-266: Freeda Ali (Rochester), The Gift of Clean Water : A Solar Powered Water Purification System

Minnesota Environmental Health Association

Award for Excellence in Environmental Health Science

These awards recognize the best projects investigating environmental factors influencing public health.

First Place High School ($200):
HS-EAEV-109: Graham Kailen Bennett (Minneapolis), Investigating Inequality from New Heights: Using Drone-Mounted PM2.5 Sensors to Characterize Air Pollution Sources, Pollutant Dispersion, and Socioeconomic Status
Second Place High School ($100):
HS-EAEV-045: Isabella Wimmer (Richville), Phytoremediation of Escherichia coli in Aquatic Environments Using Elodea canadensis
Third Place High School ($50):
HS-ENEV-200: John Liu (St. Paul), Solar-Enhanced Biomass-based Filtration System for Removing Microplastics and Heavy Metals

First Place Middle School ($100):
MS-ENBM-323: Jai Olson (Rochester), Diya Kapoor (Rochester) & Yash Parikh (Rochester), Measuring and Mitigating High Ambient Noise Exposure in Rochester Public Schools
Second Place Middle School ($50):
MS-ENEV-074: Arika Kundu (Eden Prairie), CRISP — Complete Real Time Intelligent Spoilage Prevention

Muminah Nihaar Mohammed

The Humanity & Future Impact Award

This award recognizes the high school project that best shapes the future of health on a systemic, large-scale level, improving the lives of generations to come. The prize is $250.

HS-CELL-124: Evan Morris (New Brighton), Shining Light on Synapses: A New Cost-Effective, Noninvasive Method to Advance Neurodegenerative Studies

The Mosaic Innovation Award

This award honors the middle school project that embodies the power of collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and diverse talents in STEM by utilizing a fusion of skills to achieve their goal. The prize is $250.

MS-CELL-322: Lauren Chon (Rochester), Emmy Diehn (Rochester) & Hekla Thorvardardottir (Rochester), How Does Vaping Affect Tetrahymena Cells

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Earth Systems Science Award

The winning high school project incorporates studies including different spheres of the Earth system, their interactions, and change over time. The award is a certificate.

HS-EAEV-164: Nina Georgeson (Saint Paul), Local Waters, Global Impact: Phytoplankton and the Climate Crisis

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award

This award recognizes a high school project with research that demonstrates the principles and technical innovations that offer the greatest understanding of the earth's dynamic processes. The award is a certificate.

HS-ENEV-192: Tvisha Talwar (Plymouth), Seeding Smarter: Utilizing a CNN to Assist in Optimizing the Planting of Cotton using Remote-Sensing Data and Forecasted Canopy Coverage

Regeneron

Regeneron Biomedical Science Award

This award recognizes an exceptional high school student scientist who not only demonstrates an impressive command of biomedical science and research but also embodies Regeneron’s core values and behaviors, known as The Regeneron Way. The winner receives $375 and a certificate.

HS-CBIO-184: Milan Darji (Eden Prairie), Custom Enzymes to Custom Care: Ushering in the Era of Personalized Medicine Using a Novel Approach for Engineering Enzyme Specificity

Ricoh

Sustainable Development Award

The winning project shows outstanding effort in addressing issues of environmental responsibility and sustainable development. The winner receives a certificate.

HS-ENEV-172: Agustin Robinson (Falcon Heights), Mycofiltration: Using Pleurotus Ostreatus to Remove Pollutants from Residential Runoff

Robocyclers

Outstanding Experimental Design Award

This award recognizes a project at the middle school level with an outstanding experimental design. The winner will receive $100 and a certificate.

MS-BMED-122: Mena Severt (Minneapolis), Does heal-all tincture actually heal all?

Science Museum of Minnesota

Science Communication Award

These awards recognize presenters who demonstrate the most effective communication of STEM concepts and principles in a project. Winners receive a one-year membership to the Science Museum of Minnesota.

HS-BMED-171: Zeal Kuku (Minnetonka), Experimentation of Ecdysterone on Faxonius virilis to determine the impact of hormone doping
HS-BEHA-051: Bersy Yonas (Saint Paul), CALM-R: Creating and Optimizing the Impact of a Multisensory Mental Wellness Space in Public Schools
HS-ANIM-071: Lam Le (Lakeville), The Impact of Heatwaves on the Foraging Behavior of Urban Ants: A Test on T. immigrans
MS-ENEV-074: Arika Kundu (Eden Prairie), CRISP — Complete Real Time Intelligent Spoilage Prevention
MS-MATS-189: Kaia Wieneke (St. Paul), What Wire Material Generates the Greatest Amount of Electromagnetic Force?
MS-ROBO-193: Kaila Kurien (Blaine), Car vs. Road

Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB)

Outstanding Achievement for Ability and Creativity in In Vitro Biology

This award recognizes the most outstanding 11th grade student exhibiting in the areas of plant or animal in vitro biology or tissue culture. The award is a certificate and membership in SIVB.

HS-CELL-215: Jason Windels (Minnetonka), A novel treatment for cancer via synthetic gene transfection to express a recombinant protein apoptin, selectively inducing apoptosis in human breast cancer cells

Society for Science & Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge

The top 10% of middle school projects receive certificates and an invitation to apply to the National Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

MS-BEHA-255: Sia Sood (Rochester), Stress among Middle Schoolers: Does Quality Time with Friends and Family Matter?
MS-CHEM-068: Lila Foster (Minnetonka), Effective Treatment of Menstrual Blood Stains
MS-CHEM-319: Kianna O'Marro (Rochester), Lasya Kurra (Rochester) & Momo Hitosugi (Rochester), Cleo, no the Condensation!
MS-BMED-126: Arnav Bahl (Minneapolis), Antibiotic Overuse: Emergence of Resistant Bacterial Strains
MS-CHEM-325: Axel Laack (Rochester) & Jude Absah (Rochester), Does source of tap water affect levels of nitrate?
MS-SOFT-306: Victor Ayebo (Rochester), How does an AI perform in a Flight Sim compared to human pilot
MS-BEHA-086: Laura Hansen (Forest Lake), Surfing the Waves: Using Electroencephalography to Measure the Effectiveness of Binaural Beats on Brainwave Synchronization
MS-BMED-364: Riddhi Patel (Rochester), How do Different pH Levels Affect the Dissolution Rate of Over the Counter Drugs?
MS-CHEM-244: Steven Koutroupas (Bloomington), Icy Roads: A Study of Salt Deicers
MS-ETSD-261: Janet Njeru (Rochester), Boda Boda Basics Part I: Designing a Practical Helmet for use in Developing Counties
MS-ENBM-316: Aditi Sriram (Rochester), Artifix-CNN: A Novel Convolutional Neural Network to Improve Accuracy of Photoplethysmography Heart Rate
MS-BEHA-249: Emma Maleszewski (Rochester) & Vivien LeQuire (Rochester), How Font Style Affects Middle Schooler's Comprehension and Retention of Text
MS-BMED-274: Winnie Niu (Rochester), Evaluating the Interoperability of a Multiple Sclerosis (MS)-Trained Neural Network for Glioblastoma Lesion Detection in MRI
MS-PLNT-157: Olivia Xinrui Zhou (Eden Prairie), Magnetic Garden: Hidden Force Behind Seed Growth
MS-BMED-305: Maria Kenderian (Rochester), Effect of Artificial Food Ingredients on Health: Using Daphnia Magna as a Model
MS-PLNT-136: Alex Rajkumar Samba (Edina), Can Plants Survive Drought Conditions Through Hydrogels?
MS-BEHA-090: Georgia Gibbons (St. Paul), Do Different Colors Affect Your Score When Test Taking
MS-ENBM-337: Colleen Mahr (Rochester), Helping diagnose corneal ulcers using AI machine learning
MS-CHEM-235: Bailey Blum (Elk River), The Cookie Monster
MS-MATS-291: Mia Casper (Rochester), Fiber to Function: Which Yarn Works Best

Kailey Soller

Woman in Science - Impact Award

This award is presented to a student who is expected to make an impact in the scientific world as demonstrated by their creative project idea, strong presentation skills, or unique way that they demonstrated the potential for their project to transfer into a product. The prize is a Women in Science book award and a $50 gift card.

High School: HS-EAEV-028: Raelynn Wuollet (Cloquet), Duckweed types and their effects on contaminated water
Middle School: MS-CHEM-161: Yailine Rosas Landa (Richfield), Does Fragrance of a Candle Impact Flame Height?

Thompson Family

Excellence in Obstacle Navigation

This award recognizes students who have demonstrated outstanding ability to deal with obstacles that came up during their project. The winners receive $50 and a certificate.

MS-SOFT-005: Gabriel Todd (Cloquet), What effect does a programmed interactive simulation of the process of photosynthesis have on student learning?
MS-CHEM-240: Audrey Strehler (Elk River), Magnificent Muffins: How Baking Powder Totals Impact The Rise of Muffins
MS-PLNT-034: Parker Davis (Sandstone), Wavelength wonders
MS-ANIM-050: Katie Mousel (Jacobson), Effect of a synthetic pheromone on cattle behavior and animal performance after castration

U.S. Air Force

Air Force Achievement Award

This award goes to outstanding high school projects that focus on science and technology, preferably with Air Force applicability. The award is a certificate.

HS-PHYS-392: Lux Bodell (Minnetonka), Next steps for spacetime engineering: advanced warp drive concepts for near-future accelerated space travel
HS-ENEV-200: John Liu (St. Paul), Solar-Enhanced Biomass-based Filtration System for Removing Microplastics and Heavy Metals
HS-EAEV-194: Sriram Sureshkumar (Stillwater), From Carbon to Kilowatts: Biochar-Enhanced Electrochemical Systems for Simultaneous Carbon Sequestration and Power Generation
HS-TECA-231: Aman Goud (Maple Grove), Riding the Virtual Rails: Tackling Cybersickness through Motion Anticipation

U.S. Metric Association

Best Use of the International System of Units

This award recognizes a project that involves a significant amount of quantitative measurement and which best uses the SI metric system for those measurements. The award is a certificate and membership to the U.S. Metric Association.

HS-MATS-040: Elijah Bjur (Moorhead), It All Starts with a Spark: A Study on Spark Plug Gaps

U.S. Navy

Naval Science Award

The high school award is a $75 gift card, a medal and a certificate. The middle school award is a medal and a certificate.

High School:
HS-ENBM-168: Mira Jayant (Excelsior), HOPE: A Novel Automated Device for Hemorrhage Control in Pediatric Firearm Emergencies
HS-CELL-257: Ana Milosevic (Rochester), Development of an Immunofluorescent Test to Detect Measles Virus Proteins and Transgenes in Clinical Samples from Patients Treated with Oncolytic Measles Virus Strains
HS-CBIO-180: Carmen Papp (Minnetonka), COVID-19 response in humanitarian settings: A novel case study of the Za’atari refugee camp after the release of the COVID-19 vaccine

Middle School:
MS-EAEV-143: Sam Honsa (Mendota Heights), How Do Different Types of Materials Affect the Temperature in Urban Areas
MS-CHEM-244: Steven Koutroupas (Bloomington), Icy Roads: A Study of Salt Deicers
MS-BMED-126: Arnav Bahl (Minneapolis), Antibiotic Overuse : Emergence of Resistant Bacterial Strains

Water Environment Federation

Stockholm Junior Water Prize

This award recognizes outstanding water-related projects at the high school level. The prize is a certificate and entry into state competition. High school students with a water related project are welcome to apply. The winning national U.S student will have the opportunity to have an all-expenses paid trip covered to compete at the international level in Sweden! Research papers are due April 15th, 2025.

Middle school students can enter career essays in a contest with a deadline of May 1st, 2025.

Yale Science & Engineering Association, Inc.

Most Outstanding Exhibit in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or Chemistry

This award recognizes the most outstanding high school project exhibiting in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The winner receives a certificate and a medallion.

HS-CBIO-184: Milan Darji (Eden Prairie), Custom Enzymes to Custom Care: Ushering in the Era of Personalized Medicine Using a Novel Approach for Engineering Enzyme Specificity

Young Environmental Consulting Group

Collaboration in STEM award

This award is given to a project showcasing a collaborative process, which may include how the research was completed or presented. The winner receives $250 and a certificate.

MS-EBED-062: Dominik Fortin (Savage) & Elnur Yernar (Savage), SOD ("Save our Diver") Device

While we value, respect, and thank each of our sponsors, the views and policies of our Science Fair awards sponsors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Minnesota Academy of Science, our Board, or our Staff.