2026 Results
Below are the award winners of the 2026 STEM Fair. Individual students will be emailed with instructions on how to proceed to other fairs if they are eligible.
| Student(s) | Grade | School and District | Project Title and Category | Award(s) | CSSEF | Thermo Fisher JIC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raeya Feroz | 6 | Crocker Middle Hillsborough City Elementary |
Cramming or Paced Studying Time Behavioral/Cognitive |
Second Place | ||
| Onnika Chakraborty | 6 | North Star Academy Redwood City Elementary |
PotBot - Your Personalized Watering Assistant Environmental |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Leo Savini | 6 | Woodside Elementary Woodside School |
Healing Waters Environmental |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Isabelle Sedrak | 6 | St. Charles Elementary Private |
5-second rule Life Sciences |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Karina Rivera | 6 | Good Shepherd Elementary Private |
Amazing Additives! Life Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Mia Li, Daisy Leung | 6 | Menlo Private |
Transformative Enzymes Life Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Carsten Le-Vu | 6 | Terra Linda Middle School San Carlos Elementary |
PitchIQ Mathematical/Computational |
Second Place | ||
| Bodie Jasen | 6 | Corte Madera Portola Valley School District |
The Shelf Scanner Mathematical/Computational |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Alma Henry | 6 | Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School Private |
Melting Ice Physical Sciences |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Amalia Satyal | 6 | Terra Linda Middle School San Carlos Elementary |
Cooking Beans! Physical Sciences |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Miles Fenster, Paul Saraiya | 6 | Parkside Intermediate San Bruno Park Elementary |
Determining Conductivity of Different Salts in Water Physical Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Natalie Okamoto | 6 | Central Middle San Carlos Elementary |
Drying Out Moisturizing Soap Experimental Project Physical Sciences |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Maddie DeMartini, Emma Harper | 6 | St. Charles Elementary Private |
Popping Boba With Different PHs Physical Sciences |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Katharine Besedynskyy | 6 | Ralston Intermediate Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
Seeing the Invisible Physical Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Andrew Wei, Parker Young | 6 | Terra Linda Middle School San Carlos Elementary |
Stress? Not On My Watch! Product Testing |
Second Place | ||
| Josie Hengehold, Arielle Rosner-Elson | 7 | Woodside Elementary Woodside School |
Construction Chaos Behavioral/Cognitive |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Leena Multani | 7 | Crocker Middle Hillsborough City Elementary |
Is it Context or Content? Behavioral/Cognitive |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Kiara Frediani | 7 | Good Shepherd Elementary Private |
Remember in color Behavioral/Cognitive |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Diego Jugo | 7 | St. Matthew Catholic Private |
The Magic of Memorization Behavioral/Cognitive |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Vivien Shih | 7 | Woodside Elementary Woodside School |
To Sleep or Not To Sleep? That is the Question... Behavioral/Cognitive |
Second Place | ||
| Dillon Lai | 7 | St. Matthew Catholic Private |
Where's Waldo? Behavioral/Cognitive |
Second Place | ||
| Bowen Wang | 7 | Central Middle San Carlos Elementary |
Aftershock Oracle Environmental |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Andrew Ferrante | 7 | John F. Kennedy Middle Redwood City Elementary |
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Household Filtration Saving Every Drop: Which Mulch Grows
Radishes Best While Conserving Water in Redwood City? Environmental |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Bruno Riol | 7 | Sea Crest Private |
Plants vs. Microplastics Environmental |
Second Place | ||
| Alaina Vrionis, Charlotte Craig | 7 | Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Private |
The Solution to Your Sunscreen Pollution Environmental |
Second Place | ||
| Marko Wiita | 7 | Terra Linda Middle School San Carlos Elementary |
Can AI Agents Interact And Create An Automated Protein Analysis Pipeline With Minimal Human
Intervention? Life Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Kaiya Narula | 7 | Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Private |
Feasting Flatworms: How do Environmental Factors Impact Planaria? Life Sciences |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Imogen Simon | 7 | Corte Madera Portola Valley School District |
Natural isn’t Always Better: Researching how Food Dyes Affect Paramecium Life Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Martin Breslin | 7 | Woodside Elementary Woodside School |
Market Trade Timer Mathematical/Computational |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Jay Tseng | 7 | Stanford Online High School Private |
Smart Pothole Finder: A System That Uses Accelerometers and AI to Detect Road
Hazards Mathematical/Computational |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Reva Palrecha | 7 | Crocker Middle Hillsborough City Elementary |
The Smart Mirror: Using AI to Improve Your
Movements Mathematical/Computational |
Second Place | ||
| Max Yung | 7 | Central Middle San Carlos Elementary |
Plane and Simple, or is it? How to optimize a model glider Physical Sciences |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Anda Chen | 7 | Hilldale School Private |
The Sunscreen Dilemma Physical Sciences |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Ansel McAfee | 7 | Sea Crest Private |
Triangle Face-Off: Which Triangle Type Holds the Most Weight? Physical Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Ella Valle | 7 | Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Private |
What Light Is Right? Physical Sciences |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Anshi Agarwal | 7 | Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Private |
Chemistry and It’s Unlikely Effects on Hair Product Testing |
Second Place | ||
| Adelia Mui, Sophie Chung | 7 | Ralston Intermediate Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
Don't Crack Under Pressure Product Testing |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Ayan Roychowdhury | 7 | Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Private |
Drink Contamination Product Testing |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Margot Wall | 7 | Woodside Elementary Woodside School |
Project Picasso Product Testing |
Second Place | ||
| Jack Saffell | 8 | Crocker Middle Hillsborough City Elementary |
Do humans have a shared sense of Disgust? Behavioral/Cognitive |
Second Place | ||
| Vir Rao, Sonia Stocky | 8 | Synapse School Private |
Mission: Memory Behavioral/Cognitive |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Ariana Kurich, William Selchau-Hansen | 8 | Synapse School Private |
Paper, Pixels, and Performance Behavioral/Cognitive |
Second Place | ||
| Raghav Kheterpal, Ishaan Sen | 8 | Terra Linda Middle School San Carlos Elementary |
Screen or Teacher?
Middle School Math Learning Experiences
Behavioral/Cognitive |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Eshaan Roychowdhury | 8 | Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Private |
Autonomous drones for early water contamination detection through modified multispectral
vision Environmental |
Second Place | ||
| Lyra Bloom | 8 | Sandpiper Elementary Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
BinBuddy: AI Trash-Sorting Robot For Kids Environmental |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Justin Tha | 8 | Central Middle San Carlos Elementary |
ECO SORT - An AI Powered Waste Sorting App Environmental |
Second Place | ||
| Annabelle Yu | 8 | Crocker Middle Hillsborough City Elementary |
Flowless Environmental |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Daniel Delima | 8 | Taylor Middle Millbrae Elementary |
Ant Colony Simulation Life Sciences |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Lucy Stariha | 8 | Manuel F. Cunha Intermediate Cabrillo Unified |
Crazy for Caffeine Life Sciences |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Erdem Cakmak | 8 | Burlingame Intermediate Burlingame Elementary |
Is Lactose Necessary for Milk Fermentation? (The Tale of Yogurt) Life Sciences |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Christopher Lorilla | 8 | Sandpiper Elementary Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
Can Public Market Sentiment Predict Stock Market
Returns? Mathematical/Computational |
Second Place | ||
| Wyatt Gunning | 8 | Manuel F. Cunha Intermediate Cabrillo Unified |
How Does Distance Affect Batting Averages? Mathematical/Computational |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Dallas Zhang | 8 | Nesbit Elementary Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
Remote Barnacle: Designing and Engineering a Smart Remote
Locator Mathematical/Computational |
Second Place | ||
| Krishav Jain | 8 | Nesbit Elementary Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
SMART-BLIND STICK: Enhancing Mobility and Safety for the Visually
Impaired Mathematical/Computational |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Brendan Pojunas | 8 | St. Charles Elementary Private |
Using Machine Learning to Minimize Sea Wall Induced Sand
Regression Mathematical/Computational |
Second Place | ||
| Louis Guo | 8 | Sandpiper Elementary Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
Affordable Rapid Prototyping Physical Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Shakti Vinay, Zoe Chan | 8 | Terra Linda Middle School San Carlos Elementary |
Catport Security Physical Sciences |
Second Place | ||
| Andrew Park | 8 | Sandpiper Elementary Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary |
Interactive 3D Sound Antenna for Real-Time Sound Localization and
Visualization Physical Sciences |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Ofri Grossinger | 8 | Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School Private |
Illuminating the Danger: Using Lasers for Better Detection of Forest Fires in Low
Visibility Physical Sciences |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Julia Chiueh | 8 | Hilldale School Private |
Beat the Heat Product Testing |
First Place | State Eligible | Thermo-Fisher JIC |
| Orlando Wood | 8 | Hilldale School Private |
Tearing Limits Product Testing |
Honorable Mention | ||
| Everest Tschannen | 8 | Crocker Middle Hillsborough City Elementary |
Using AI to help students study and prepare for exams Product Testing |
Second Place | ||
| Nikhil Jha | 8 | Corte Madera Portola Valley School District |
Which World Record Paper Airplane Design Works Best (consistently for
beginners) Product Testing |
Second Place |