Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, is one of the most prestigious science fairs in the world,and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. Each May, over 1500 students from 52 nations are flown in to compete in the fair for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prize: one of three $50,000 college scholarship. All prizes together amount to over $4,000,000. Two awards ceremonies are held including: Special Awards Organization Presentation (which now includes the Government Awards Presentations) and the Grand Awards Ceremony. The International Science and Engineering Fair was founded in 1950 by Science Service (now the Society for Science & the Public) and has been sponsored by Intel Corporation since 1997.

Location

Although it is an international event, the United States almost always hosts it (the 1995 fair was held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; the 1996 fair was held in Tucson, Arizona, USA; the 2000 fair was held in Detroit, Michigan, USA; the 2012 fair will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada). The host city prepares a convention center and hotel accommodations for the event, hosts numerous events and manages college tours around the convention center.

The 2006 Intel ISEF took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 7-12.

In 2007 it was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 13-19.

In 2008 it was held in Atlanta, Georgia, May 11-17.

Upcoming locations are 2009 Reno, Nevada; May 10-15 and 2010 San Jose, California.

Contestants

Contestants are selected from regional, district, and state ISEF affiliated fairs. These fairs usually encompass multiple states or entire regions of a country. The regional fair committee is responsible for managing the fair when their city hosts the event.

Individual science projects and team science projects both compete for prizes. Teams are composed of two to as many as four high school students (grades 9-12).

Prizes

Winners of the $50,000 grand prize scholarship at the 2005 Fair in Phoenix, Arizona were Ameen Abdulrasool from Chicago, Illinois, Stephen Schulz from Nordrhein-Westfahlen, Germany, and Gabrielle Alyce Gianelli from Orlando, Florida.

Example awards:
* Intel Young Scientist Award: $50,000 Scholarship
Winners in 2007: [http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070526/fob7.asp]
** Dayan Li (17) of Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Greenbelt, Maryland) for research on TSP-1 which calls into question the use of certain cancer drugs.
** Philip Vidal Streich (16), a home schooled student from Platteville, Wisconsin for contradicting a general assumption that no solvent would dissolve nanotubes
** Dmitry Vaintrob (18) of South Eugene High School in Oregon for a new way to connect algebraic structures and topological spaces
* Intel Foundation Achievement Award: $5,000 Scholarships (up to 15, 17 in 2007)
* Ricoh Sustainable Development Award: All expense paid trip to the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan (2005)
* Seaborg SIYSS Award: All expense paid trip to Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar
* European Union Contest for Young Scientists: All expense paid trip to European Union Contest
* MILSET Expo-Science Award: All expense Paid trip to International Youth Science Exhibition In Santiago, Chile (2005)Grand Award Winners in 2006
**Hannah Louise WolfEA016 Sleuthing Epicenter Direction from Seismites, Cretaceous Wahweap Formation, Cockscomb Area, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah16, Parkland High School, Allentown, Pennsylvania
**Madhavi Pulakat Gavini , ME013 Engineering of a Novel Inhibitor of Biofilm-Encapsulated Pathogens16, Mississippi School for Mathematics & Science, Columbus, Mississippi
**Meredith Ann MacGregor , PH026 Cracking the Brazil Nut Effect17, Fairview High School, Boulder, Colorado

External links

* [http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/ Official site]